New research out from Research2Guidance is projecting the market for mobile health apps to more than double during 2012 to top off at more than $1.3B, up from $718M in 2011.

The healthy increase projected for this year is attributed to five main areas according to the research firm’s latest report, including app downloads, in-app advertisements, mHealth services, direct transactions and sensor sales. The latter being a substantial growth driver as a number of big healthcare companies published mHealth apps in 2011 that go far beyond the simple nature of most apps we’ve seen hit the market so far.

The report also notes that in 2012 the number of mHealth application users – mobile users who downloaded a smartphone mHealth application at least once – will reach 247 million.  This is nearly double the 124 million users who downloaded mHealth smarthphone applications in 2011.

The full report is available for download here.

Wahoo Fitness has announced that it has created the “first Bluetooth Smart heart rate monitor.” This $79.99 device, called the BlueHR, will not hit stores until January, but Wahoo Fitness is already creating hype around its newest device.

Instead of connecting directly to a smartphone or communicating with an additional piece of hardware like the other wireless heart monitors on the market, this native Bluetooth 4.0 Smart device transmits data wirelessly to a smartphone, no extra devices or wires required. Thus, all users have to do is strap the device around their sternum, and they will be able to monitor stats such as their heart rate and the number of calories they are burning via their smartphone.

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Health Net Federal Services, LLC has launched a mobile site for the TRICARE North Region. Designed to provide health benefits for military personnel, retirees, and their dependents, TRICARE North Region members now have access to the most commonly sought after health information via smartphone or tablet, independent of where they are within the region.

Covering the area spanning Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and parts of Tennessee, Missouri and Iowa, the TRICARE North Region is home to approximately three million beneficiaries. Thus, a mobile website is an ideal means for members to stay connected to their health network.

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After more than eight months of working its way through the red tape, Mobisante’s mobile ultrasound has finally hit the US market.

Since receiving 510(k) clearance from the FDA in February, Mobisante has been working to prepare the mobile device for commercialization in the US. According to David Zar, the company’s CTO, the cost for achieving this initial clearance was in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars. Additionally, in order to accomplish this, Mobisante had to put into action FDA-mandated systems for quality control, potential recalls or software updates, and product tracking.

However, despite the long journey, Mobisante’s mobile ultrasound has finally arrived in the mHealth market place as a $7,495 system. Including an ultrasound probe and Mobisante’s software, the system functions on a Windows Mobile 6.5-based Toshiba TG01 smartphone. Unfortunately, the system can only function on this mobile device due to the fact that most other devices, including the iPhone and Android, do not support USB 2.0, which is necessary to accommodate the probe.

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ZocDoc, a native and mobile Web app that allows users to find and schedule appointments with doctors and dentists, has announced a $25M series C investment from Goldman Sachs, raising total series C funding to $75M and the total raised to date a healthy $95M.

ZocDoc takes the concept of finding a local physician and scheduling an appointment to the next level.  The company’s suite of apps allows users to research and find doctors and other clinicians that accept their insurance the platform integrates seamlessly with doctors’ calendars in real-time, allowing for patients to schedule appointments in real-time.

The app relies on the fact that it ties into the so-called “hidden availability” of doctors, such as the 10 to 20 percent of appointments that are cancelled or rescheduled at the last minute.  It’s like Hotwire.com for docotors’ appointments.  Doctors pay $250/mo to use the service and it’s free for consumer use.

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Mobile technology in healthcare has seen immense success in time-sensitive situations, especially in relation to alerting a care-taker that someone needs immediate care.  There’s perhaps no better example then situations that involve cardiac arrest, where each and every second count.

When someone experiences cardiac arrest, their life depends on having someone close by that possesses the skills necessary to help.  Unfortunately, this is an unlikely scenario for most people put in these situations.  What if, however, an alert could be sent to anyone in the area of someone experience cardiac arrest via their smartphones?  This was the question posed by a group in Stockholm who’s using smartphones to alert volunteers of a nearby arrest, leveraging a large group of good samaritans in the hopes of getting help to cardiac arrest victims as fast as possible.

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The government is moving further towards promoting mHealth development as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services, offers a grant that will fund development, testing, and analysis of mHealth methods. The grant is specifically aimed at funding research that utilizes mHealth tools to improve patient-physician correspondence, patient adherence to treatment plans, and self-management of chronic diseases in underserved populations.

The recent expansion of cellular networks and smartphone usage allow communication to be more rapid, far-reaching and cost effective than ever. Therefore, the NIH is capitalizing on mHealth’s potential to provide an affordable and immediate means of transmitting medical data both to and from remote areas and specialists living in urban environments.

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