As the cost of healthcare continues to rise and the process becomes more complex, doctors are constantly looking for ways to better serve their patients. A new and innovative way to do this is by combining smartphones and healthcare to enhance the industry.

Smartphones and Healthcare Join Forces

The idea of combining smartphones and healthcare first came from pharmacists who were trying to figure out a way to make patients remember to take medication. The pharmacists conducted a study in which they gave smartphones to every patient in order to encourage adherence to medication dosages. Hospital readmission rates for this group of patients dropped to zero because every patients remembered to regularly take the prescribed medications.

The tracking of medication dosages has also helped pharmacists and doctors study the effects of certain medications in the treatment of diseases. Smartphones provide an easy way for patients to track medication usage and dosage through apps. That information can then be easily relayed to doctors and pharmacists to provide important information in studying the treatment of diseases.

Using smartphones and healthcare together to better treat patients is a creative idea because many people in the U.S. have a smartphone. We are constantly attached to our smartphones, which means it is always accessible to track medical information. By taking advantage of an item that many people already have, doctors are effectively helping reduce the cost of healthcare.

What If You Don’t Have a Smartphone?

Instead of using smartphones, patients can use different forms of social media to improve the efficiency of healthcare. Social media is completely free, which means it can easily help reduce the cost of healthcare. In the healthcare world, there are many different social media platforms besides Facebook and Twitter that patients can use.

One such platform is called Practice Fusion, which has just launched a new service called Patient Fusion. It allows patients to rate doctors, write reviews, and look at doctor schedules to book an appointment. Patient Fusion is essentially a healthcare version of Hotels.com.

This is just one of many examples of social media being used in healthcare. By combining smartphones and healthcare, and making use of social media, the industry can reduce costs and increase efficiency. At a time when many are wondering how they will pay for healthcare services, this provides a promising future.