Future prospects of health management systems using cellular phones.
BACKGROUND
Cellular phones enable communication between healthcare providers and patients for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. However, few studies have examined the user-friendliness or effectiveness of cellular phone-based medical informatics (CPBMI) for healthcare.


METHODS
This study investigated the use of CPBMI to identify its current status within the medical field, advantages and disadvantages, practicability, clinical effectiveness, costs, and cost-saving potential.


RESULTS
CPBMI was validated in terms of practicality and provision of medical benefits. It is critical to use CPBMI in accordance with the different features of each disease and condition. Use of CPBMI is expected to be especially useful for patients with chronic disease.


CONCLUSIONS
We discussed the current status of the clinical use, benefits, and risks of CPBMI. CPBMI and information technology-based health management tools are anticipated to become useful and effective components of healthcare management in the future.
1 Division of Biomedical Informatics, Systems Biomedical Informatics Research Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine , Seoul, Korea.
Hun-Sung
HS
Kim
Yunji
Y
Hwang
Jae-Ho
JH
Lee
Hye Young
HY
Oh
Yi-Jun
YJ
Kim
Hyeon Yoon
HY
Kwon
Hyoseung
H
Kang
Hyunah
H
Kim
Rae Woong
RW
Park
Ju Han
JH
Kim
D040421:Cell Phone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000639:trends*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D014481:United States
cellular phone; healthcare; mobile health; telemedicine