Cost-effectiveness of Mobile Technologies in Health: a Systematic Review

Background: The use of mobile and wireless technologies to support the achievement of health objectives (m-Health) potentially enhances quality of care and may reduce health care costs. Objectives: We conducted a systematic review of studies on the cost-effectiveness of mobile health (m-health) interventions in healthcare services to analyze the outcome of recent research conclusions. Materials/Patients and Methods: Literature searches were performed in PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, and Scopus for studies on m-Health interventions. Search terms included various combinations of the terms mobile phone, m-health, mobile apps and mobile application, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis. Articles were screened for relevance based on preset inclusion and exclusion criteria. Included papers were critically appraised using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement before data were extracted. Results: Our literature searches yielded 6 eligible articles, of which 2 were review articles and 1 was reported on costs. 2 articles were related to improving healthcare services via m-health in maternal health and malaria. And 1 was related to using m-health as a decision support tool. All 6 papers concluded that m-Health is cost-effective. Methodological quality of the studies was generally considered high. Conclusion: The study is a systematic review on impact of the m-health interventions on quality and cost of healthcare services. In recent years, the number of studies on e-Health interventions increased but there are few cost-utility and cost-effectiveness studies for e-health and m-health systems in the literature. All articles demonstrate that using mobile technologies is a cost-effective approach in healthcare services delivery.