With today's technological advancements, mobile phones and wearable devices have become extensions of an increasingly diffused and smart digital infrastructure. In this paper, we examine mobile health (mHealth) platforms and their health and economic impacts on the outcomes of chronic disease patients. To do so, we partnered with a major mHealth firm that provides one of the largest mobile health app platforms in Asia specializing in diabetes care. We designed and implemented a randomized field experiment based on detailed patient health activities (e.g., steps, exercises, sleep, food intake) and blood glucose values from 1,070 diabetes patients over several months. Our main findings show that the adoption of the mHealth app leads to an improvement in  both short term metrics ( such as reduction in patients' blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin levels) and longer-term metrics ( such as hospital visits , and medical expenses). Patients who adopted the mHealth app undertook higher levels of exercise, consumed healthier food with lower calories , walked more steps and slept for longer times on a daily basis. A comparison of mobile vs. PC enabled version of the same app demonstrates that the mobile has a stronger effect than PCs in helping patients make  behavioral modifications with respect to diet, exercise and life style, which ultimately leads to an improvement in their healthcare outcomes. We also compared outcomes when the platform facilitates personalized health reminders to patients vs. generic reminders. We found that personalized mobile message with patient-specific guidance can have an inadvertent  effect on patient app engagement , life style changes, and health improvement.  Overall, our findings indicate the potential value of mHealth technologies , as well as the importance of mHealth platform design in achieving better healthcare outcomes.
With today's technological advancements, mobile phones and wearable devices have become extensions of an increasingly diffused and smart digital infrastructure. In this paper, we examine mobile health (mHealth) platforms and their health and economic impacts on the outcomes of chronic disease patients. We partnered with a major mHealth firm that provides one of the largest mHealth apps in Asia specializing in diabetes care. We designed a randomized field experiment based on detailed patient health activities (e.g., exercises, sleep, food intake) and blood glucose values from 1,070 diabetes patients over several months. We find the adoption of the mHealth app leads to an improvement in health behavior, which leads to both short term metrics ( reduction in patients' blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin levels) and longer-term metrics ( hospital visits and medical expenses). Patients who adopted the mHealth app undertook more exercise, consumed healthier food , walked more steps and slept for longer times . They also were more likely to substitute offline visits with telehealth. A comparison of mobile vs. PC version of the same app demonstrates that mobile has a stronger effect than PC in helping patients make these behavioral modifications with respect to diet, exercise and lifestyle, which leads to an improvement in their healthcare outcomes. We also compared outcomes when the platform facilitates personalized health reminders to patients vs. generic reminders. Surprisingly, we find personalized mobile messages with patient-specific guidance can have an inadvertent (smaller) effect on patient app engagement and lifestyle changes, leading to a lower health improvement. However, they are more like to encourage a substitution of offline visits by telehealth. Overall, our findings indicate the massive potential of mHealth technologies and platform design in achieving better healthcare outcomes.
R
To do so, we
We
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mobile health app platforms
mHealth apps
D
and implemented
D
steps,
R
Our main findings show that
We find
A
health behavior, which leads to
D
such as
R
such as hospital visits ,
hospital visits
R
higher levels of
more
D
with lower calories
R
on a daily basis.
. They also were more likely to substitute offline visits with telehealth.
D
enabled
D
the
R
PCs
PC
A
these
R
life style, which ultimately
lifestyle, which
R
We found that personalized mobile message
Surprisingly, we find personalized mobile messages
A
(smaller)
R
, life style changes, and
and lifestyle changes, leading to a lower
A
However, they are more like to encourage a substitution of offline visits by telehealth.
R
potential value
massive potential
R
, as well as the importance of mHealth
and