In a recently published MobiHealthNews.com study, the total number of patient-facing apps offered by US hospitals was found to be only 205 in both iTunes and Google Play. Thus, only about 3 percent of healthcare facilities in the U.S. offer some kind of branded app. In addition, some hospitals, the study notes, offer their EHR providers’ mobile applications without re-skinning or branding it as their own.
Compared to the number of healthcare providers in the United States, 205 apps is a tiny number indeed. For healthcare marketers, this may be the golden opportunity to differentiate their organization by launching a customized portfolio of patient-facing apps.
But what is even more interesting is if/how the size of mobile portfolio correlates with the overall quality rating of the hospital.
Do the top-rated hospitals develop more apps because they have more resources, or are the favorable ratings the result of a successful mobile strategy? To provide some insights, we combined the data on the number of mobile apps in top US hospitals and their rank and Patient Satisfaction ratings (from the U.S. News & Report 2013 Ranking).
The average number of mobile apps in top US hospitals is 3.8 per hospital, and 8 of the 18 top hospitals don’t offer any apps.
|
Rank |
Hospital |
US News & Report Ranking Points |
Total Apps # |
Mobile Apps # |
Tablet Apps # |
Developer |
Patient Satisfaction* |
||
|
iOS |
Android |
iOS |
Android |
||||||
|
1 |
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore |
30 |
9 |
4 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
Unbound Medicine, Inc. |
82% |
|
2 |
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston |
29 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
Massachusetts General Hospital, Unbound Medicine, Inc. |
89% |
|
3 |
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. |
29 |
17 |
8 |
3 |
6 |
0 |
Mayo Medical Laboratories, Wolf Apps LLC |
85% |
|
4 |
Cleveland Clinic |
27 |
12 |
5 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
Cleveland Clinic Wellness Enterprise, Cleveland Clinic Innovations |
83% |
|
5 |
UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles |
19 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
PhotoBooks, UCLA Health Careers |
85% |
|
6 |
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago |
17 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
80% |
|
|
7 |
New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, N.Y. |
17 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
80% |
|
|
7 |
UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco |
17 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
UCSF Medical Center, Care for Patients |
82% |
|
9 |
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston |
16 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
87% |
|
|
10 |
UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center |
15 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center |
70% |
|
11 |
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia |
12 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
79% |
|
|
12 |
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. |
12 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
Gather Digital, Blue Pane Studio |
84% |
|
13 |
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles |
12 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
80% |
|
|
14 |
NYU Langone Medical Center, New York |
11 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
NYU Langone Medical Center |
74% |
|
15 |
Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
77% |
|
|
16 |
IU Health Academic Health Center, Indianapolis |
7 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
InQuicker, Indiana University Health |
73% |
|
17 |
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
77% |
|
|
18 |
University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
76% |
|
Source: U.S. News & Report, CMS.gov, 2013
It looks like the correlation is pretty strong! Although correlation does not imply causation, it may well be that a versatile, powerful mobile portfolio can increase a hospital’s Patient Satisfaction ratings and overall ranking!
To learn how marketing professionals can take control of their hospital’s mobile app development, get our eBook:
