To say Harry Greenspun, MD, is well versed in mobile healthcare and technology is to put it mildly.

Greenspun, senior advisor at Deloitte's Center for Health Solutions, is also chairman of the HIMSS Government Relations Roundtable and a member of the new HIMSS mHealth Community, and has advised the Obama Administration on the importance of healthcare IT investment. 

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Prior to joining Deloitte, he served as chief medical officer for Dell and Northrup Grumman. He's a co-author of “Reengineering Health Care: A Manifesto for Radically Rethinking Health Care Delivery,” and serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Digital Health, WellPoint External Advisory Council on Health Inequities and the advisory boards for Georgetown University, the Global Medical Microtechnology Association and Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance.

Q. What's the one promise of mHealth that will drive the most adoption over the coming year?

A. Convenience will likely be the biggest driver of mHealth for consumers and providers.  Expectations of what healthcare should provide will continue to rise as other industries demonstrate how mobile technology improves their experience.

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Q. What mHealth technology will become ubiquitous in the next five years? Why?

A. Secure messaging and basic telehealth, because this is low-hanging fruit with strong return on investment.

Q. What's the most cutting-edge application you're seeing now? What other innovations might we see in the near future?

A. We are still scratching the surface on the value of patient-reported data. The innovation that will make it worthwhile is applied analytics to help individuals and providers makes sense out of it and generate a plan of action.

Q. What mHealth tool or trend will likely die out or fail?

A. Overpromising and over-hyping. The era of inflated claims without strict evidence is coming to an end.

Q. What mHealth tool or trend has surprised you the most, either with its success or its failure?

A. The lack of interoperability and adoption of standards is a big obstacle to mHealth success.

Q. What's your biggest fear about mHealth? Why?

A. As mentioned previously, so many tools are being introduced into the consumer space without evidence to support their claims. mHealth can be an tremendous enabler of better quality, safety, value and convenience. Conversely, it can join the realm of the nutritional supplement.

Q. Who's going to push mHealth "to the next level" – consumers, providers or some other party?

A. Consumer demand will likely be the strongest driver, with providers slowly becoming incentivized to support and engage in mHealth as value-based care expands.

Q. What are you working on now?

A. Interoperability, consumer engagement, analytics and outcomes monitoring, all supported by mobile.