M-Health -the new opportunities of telecommunication technologies in health care

We review the mobile health platforms in this article (mHealth), clarify this term and describe some practical examples of use. mHealth encompasses two main directions: technologies and consulting. mHealth is based particularly on the mobile personal devices. The number of subscribers for mobile net services in Russian Federation is 152.8 pro 100 individuals. The mobile market is fulfilled by the big number of wearable devices connectable with the smartphones. Well-known are the different bracelets, which are now used almost exclusively for the monitoring of physical activity. We review the publications to the application of the remote medicine technologies in different medical specialties. Many authors justify the use of the remote consultations. It is being shown, that in 40% of cases the personal visit to the physician is not necessary. Some studies have compared the efficacy of the personal and remote consultations in rehabilitation period and after the instrumentations, also during the massive screening. Some authors ground the economic benefits of the telemedicine. Some examples are cited to the urological applications. The prerequisites for the use of mHealth in Russia are analyzed from the point ofview ofpatients, as well as the main challenges from the point of view of the medical community. The main challenges are: absence of the law regulation, absence of the clear financial support and conservatism of the specialists and the system. Drawing a conclusion, mHealth allows the optimization of the “physician-patient” relations, monitoring of the vital functions, delivery of the medical service to the distant regions and also the acquisition of the patient loyalty.