Were there any surprises when compiling this most recent survey, or when parsing the results?

One was that apps are starting to get a little more traction, within provider organizations, and most respondents say they have plans to launch new apps, he says.

Another had to do with the types of technology, and the fact that there's "more of a rise in the use of tablets – specifically medical tablets, he says. "I think people are starting to see the portability and flexibility of that technology."

In-hospital, clinicians said they were most likely to use mobile tools for accessing patient information, 69 percent, such as labs or imaging, or clinical decision support at 65 percent, according to the HIMSS survey.

But it's outside the hospital walls, post-discharge, that the tablets and apps seem, lately, to be really starting to find favor. More than one-third of respondents said they provider at least one app for patient or consumer use. One recent phenomenon is especially interesting.

"Mobile discharge kits seem to be really starting to take off," says Collins. "You discharge the patient with the tablet, with the pulse oximeter, with the scale. They have information at their fingertips regarding what meds they're on. They can engage with their provider remotely. That seems to be providing a lot of value – satisfaction-wise and financially – both to providers and patients."

Programs like those have seen success at Geisinger Health System, CHRISTUS Health, Hackensack Alliance ACO and beyond, he says, clearly showing there's a trend in the value and use of the technology."

The payers are noticing too. As pointed out in a 2013 Chilmark Research study, big changes in technology and payment strategies means insurance companies are making the most of mobile technology – both to enable outreach to high-cost populations and market themselves to potential new post-Affordable Care Act customers.

On the provider side, health systems and ACOs are "saying, 'It's literally cheaper for me to buy this technology and give it to patients than it is for us to eat the cost, manage their chronic care and have them readmitted with these high costs in an inpatient setting,'" says Collins.

And while mobile tools have long enabled telemedicine for patients in rural areas hours away from the nearest hospital, "now you're starting to see more localized use, with the new technology," in the interest in keeping high-risk patients healthy.

"They're trying to get a handle on chronic disease management," says HIMSS Analytics Executive Vice President John Hoyt. And so you see a redoubled focus on weight gain, diabetes: Bluetooth-enabled scales that send data back to providers, even new insulin pumps with their own IP addresses.

"They're sending data to the cloud," says Hoyt. "Not the EMR – because it's too much data, it's like every 10 seconds – but I was at a Stage 7 visit at OSU, at the endocrine clinic, and they were looking at data."

They noticed, for instance that one young person's blood sugar went up just before dinner: "'You're getting dinner a little too late, can you move it up?'" says Hoyt. "They're looking at the data on her pump from the cloud and then can download a summary of the data to Epic."

If clinicians are still grappling with how best to deploy mobile tools in-hospital, this sort of use for remote care management looks to be making big advances.

"We will continue to increase (mobile usage) inside the hospital walls, just for efficiency's sake," says Hoyt. "But the real impactful use is outside, between visits."

"Remote patient monitoring is huge, and we're going to see an explosion there," says Collins. "It's going to impact the baby boomer population all over the world."