Source: informationweek.com

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The latest equipment for improving healthcare isn’t a multimillion-dollar computer system. It’s an inexpensive gadget that many of us have in our pockets: smartphones.

Applications that run on iPhones and other smartphones give healthcare providers and patients information and capabilities they need where and when they need them. The phones and apps are inexpensive and becoming ubiquitous. They provide doctors information and data, and give patients tools they need to take better care of themselves.

Blue Cross of Northeast Pennsylvania, for example, is deploying smartphone apps to 5,000 to 10,000 patients to let them carry their medical histories with them when going from one doctor to another. The AllOne Mobile app makes it easier for doctors to share electronic medical records with each other, and patients can correct errors in their own medical histories.