The U.S. Army is using mobile technology to send secure messages to soldiers who have suffered mild traumatic brain injuries to remind them of upcoming appointments as well as to check on their status after they have been discharged from the hospital.
The secure messaging program enables case managers to communicate daily with wounded soldiers through their cell phones about their mood or pain management, according to Col. Ronald Poropatich, deputy director, U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command.
The Army started the pilot in August 2009 and now is planning to ramp up a full deployment of the program, Poropatich said at the mHealth Summit Nov. 10.
During the pilot, 500 soldiers enrolled, 250 case managers participated, and 43,000 messages were sent.
"We're reaching out and customizing the information that the soldiers need, such as reminders for appointments because those with traumatic brain injury may not remember a week or day from now when their appointment is," Poropatich said.
The outcomes and answers posed from the questions over time will provide a longitudinal assessment of how the soldier is doing with depression or pain. "We're going to start a research phase of it now, and there's also great interest by the Army to roll it out Army-wide as quickly as possible," he said.
The information and questions sent via cell phone to the soldier and their responses are considered pre-clinical. "Eventually we want to get into the clinical space, such as adjusting your medication and documenting it in the electronic medical record," Poropatich said.
To participate in the secure messaging program, soldiers use their own cell phone. "We've worked on 400 different cell phones," he noted.
The soldier dials a number which triggers the downloading of software onto the cell phone. The software on the phone and the program server recognize each other and perform authentication to verify the owner of the phone. Information resides on the server and not on the phone.
"The bi-directional authentication is the secret sauce of this privacy and security piece," Poropatich said.
For example, the soldier receives a notification that there is a message and proceeds to enter a six-digit PIN to enter the secure environment and pushes the button that will bring up the announcement or question from the case worker.
The tool protects information in a manner that is compliant with HIPAA, which will enable the Army to start considering the use of cell phones for more transactional applications, such as adjusting the dosage of medications for someone who suffers from depression.
The Army has awarded Diversinet, a Canadian healthcare communications provider, a five-year contract for the secure messaging technology.
