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Adopting mobile health (or ‘mHealth’) technology could save the European Union almost 100 billion euros by 2017, as well as adding 93 billion euros to GDP, according to a new report.

By Ben Steele on Jun 6, 2013

The report, developed by the GSMA and PricewaterhouseCoopers, claims that using mHealth solutions offers three clear benefits – cost savings, improved lifestyles, and greater “resource efficiency.”

In terms of cost savings, the report predicts that mHealth adoption would lower total annual per capita EU healthcare spending on patients by 18%, or 537 euros. The technology could reduce health costs for those with chronic diseases by 30%-35%, by improving compliance and through remote patient monitoring. With regards to lifestyle enhancement, mHealth has the potential to provide 9.4 million of those at risk of developing chronic illnesses with earlier diagnosis and treatment, as well as giving 11 million chronic patients and nine million elderly patients access to remote treatment and monitoring. As for efficiency, the report claims that mHealth services could facilitate the treatment of an extra 24.5 million patients “without requiring more doctors or new healthcare facilities.” The adoption of mHealth could also help alleviate the shortage of doctors across the EU, by saving 42 million doctors’ working days in 2017, allowing treatment to be extended to an additional 126 million patients.

However, the study went on to qualify this prediction by mentioning challenges to the adoption of mHealth. It warned that “unless the multiple barriers – regulatory, economic, structural and technological – that prevent mHealth from being adopted commercially and achieving scale are removed,” as little as 5% of the benefits mentioned above would be achieved. This means healthcare savings across the EU of only 6.6 billion out of the potential 100 billion euros – with only 11.2 million out of a potential 185 million patients benefitting from mHealth. The chief marketing officer at GSMA, Michael O’ Hara, said that “much more needs to be done by regulators and governments within the EU to incentivise, encourage and drive the adoption of mHealth for the benefit of all the region’s citizens.”