Trend: Services offer healthcare-related text messages

While it's still more of a phenomenon elsewhere in the world, it's looking like healthcare-based text messaging is set to become more common in the U.S.  Right now, services have been launched in scattered locations, including England and Australia, which send health-related text messages to patients. For example, one English service texts women to remind them to take their birth control pill, while an Aussie version sends HIV-positive patients messages which help them manage their drug regimen. In the U.S., one fledgling example comes from the San Francisco Health Department, which has launched a service which providers intimate health information to at-risk adolescents.

Right now, the jury still seems to be out on whether such text messages can have a meaningful impact on health behavior. However, analysts who watch telemedical issues seem to think this approach will take root. And why not? It's comparatively cheap to deliver, uses a platform (a cell phone) owned by just about everyone, and should be seen as successful if even a small percentage of patients manage or prevent diseases successfully. Besides, the same technology that reminds patients to take key action could be implemented to, say, remind clinical workers to take key preventative steps with a given patient. Sounds like a winner to me.

To learn more about this trend:
- read this iHealthBeat piece

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