The Supreme Court's Decision Won't Affect the Real Health Care Revolution

While the country is consumed this week with President Obama’s controversial effort to reform the U.S. health care system, it might be encouraging to know that real health care reform is happening: in mobile-health and tele-health (which I will jointly refer to as eHealth).

EHealth is actually achieving health care reform’s goals not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up: as thousands of engineers, innovators and communications and technology companies look for ways to improve the health care system.

And like most new technology, the eHealth revolution is breaking down old barriers, transforming how people think about health care and creating countless new opportunities.

Breakthroughs in tele-health are remaking the doctor-patient relationship. Doctors, or their assistants, are increasingly able to see patients remotely, via the Internet. While not appropriate for all types of medical care, it can allow a health care provider to determine if an in-person visit is necessary, or a mental health professional may be able to address a concern, even thousands of miles apart.

An even bigger change is the use of mobile devices allowing doctors, hospitals or other health care providers to stay in touch with their patients, monitoring a condition or reminding them of needed medication or other therapy. These efforts are having a tremendous impact on patient compliance, which has long been a barrier to better outcomes.

Even so, the eHealth revolution faces challenges. One comes from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is charged with regulating medical devices. Some innovations can turn a mobile device into a medical device, and when that’s the case, the FDA wants to oversee and approve it. The question is when does a mobile device cross that line to become a medical device?

The second challenge is spectrum. As more and more health care providers and their patients turn to ehealth, they will need more spectrum. And while there may be enough right now, the growing demand could limit the ability to move vital medical information to the right people in a timely manner.

The good news is that both the FDA and the spectrum challenge are fixable, and unlike the president’s health care bill, the fixes can draw large bipartisan support.