v-Fluence study shows healthcare applications for mobile devices exploding

v-Fluence Interactive CEO Jay Byrne points to company research showing the fast growth of healthcare mobile "apps" available for portable devices and the increasing use of these mobile apps by consumers, as an area health organization strategists should consider when developing their monitoring, marketing and related regulatory compliance plans.

As of January 2010, there were more than 1,700 medical applications available for the iPhone, iTouch and other mobile devices. For example, i-Tunes’ broad Health & Fitness or Medical categories now features more than 6,000 apps for iPhones, including hundreds of applications that reference virtually every major pharmaceutical brand name, offering services from basic prescribing data to "cost-saving" generic or over-the-counter alternative options. These applications been developed by medical publishers, pharmacies, payers, hospitals, advocacy groups, alternative health promoters, health care professionals, litigators, government agencies and others. Virtually every therapeutic area is already represented with a daily growing list of offerings for disease management.

At the same time, the percentage of the public using mobile devices to access medical and pharmaceutical information has grown considerably. For instance, iTunes’ reports their Health & Fitness or Medical applications have been downloaded by more than 1 million users and the public appetite for information via mobile devices continues to grow:

* 80% of physicians say they are more likely to base a clinical decision on information they access via a Smartphone versus information they've read in a journal
* 37% of all consumers currently use mobile devices for online activities – and 25% use mobile devices as source of daily news
* More than 10 million Americans have used cell phones or smart devices to look up health information

"The growing rise in mobile healthcare apps, and their use by the public, should have brand strategists asking such questions as: ‘Are you appropriately monitoring these spaces and the dozens of third-party application review spaces?’" questions v-Fluence President Jay Byrne.

"If your company has plans to launch a mobile app, have you determined how you plan to track user reviews and related content? How will you manage content that includes reportable adverse events and/or content that creates product promotion challenges and concerns among regulators?"

Fortunately, v-Fluence’s team includes therapeutic-area dedicated analysts who are fully trained in drug safety reporting and promotional marketing restrictions and policies. Additionally, senior v-Fluence counselors track tactics used by industry players and relevant influencers, while staying up to date with influential policies and practices for spaces like iTunes, Facebook, Twitter and other emerging new media channels.

"v-Fluence’s strength is, and always has been, our ability to turn in-depth online analytics and intelligence into easy to understand, measurable, and proactive positioning for our clients," Byrne points out, "With therapeutic and healthy policy dedicated analysts, our team of senior counsels are positioned to deliver strategic intelligence and corresponding best practice execution support for mobile health related spaces."

A full version of this report and references is available at: http://www.v-fluence.com/blog/459/healthcare-apps-exploding-in-mobile-are-you-ready

About v-Fluence:
v-Fluence Interactive is a fast-growing agency with an established track record of positively shaping the online environments for multinational corporations, major brands and organizations. v-Fluence’s online marketing and public relations practice areas focus on health, wellness and quality of life marketplaces in which consumers and stakeholders are more than interested—they are passionate and often vocal about the brands, products and issues that surround them. v-Fluence’s success in these challenging environments flows from our analytics-rich approach to client work and our team of online analysts and senior-level topic-specific experts who are dedicated to excellence, integrity and innovation and recognized nationally for trend-setting online campaigns and client successes.

Web resources:

http://www.v-fluence.com

http://twitter.com/vFluence

http://www.facebook.com/vFluence