Where's mHealth in the Developed World?

Looking into mHealth initiatives in the developing world for Thursday's blog post piqued my interest in the platforms that are connecting patients and doctors via cell phones in the developed world.

Prior to some Wikipedia searching, the only company doing mHealth work in the developed world that I knew about was Myca. FastCompany profiled the company in April. According to the magazine, this company is using online calendars and billing, IM, and text messaging to network patients with "The Doctor of the Future."

Apart from Myca, the Wikipedia mHealth page lists a few other companies in the United States, including TelaDoc, that allow patients to access physician expertise via mobile phone. Canada, the UK, and Australia also have some mHealth providers listed.

Despite this list, I'm surprised at the paltry number of companies offering mHealth to patients in the U.S. and other developed nations. Patient privacy and security of medical records are certainly major concerns for patients in these countries, but since many of us transmit sensitive data via mobile phones when buying new applications, songs, or games, a secure portal for sending health information seems feasible. With the number of tech-savvy patients and doctors in the developed world the mHealth sector seems ready for new players and an mHealth iPhone app seems inevitable.