MHealth: The Next Generation Of Telemedicine?

C. Peter Waegemann is the Vice President of mHealth Initiative Inc., a Boston-based not-for-profit organization promoting mHealth applications nationally and internationally. Until February 2009 he was CEO of the Medical Records Institute, a Boston-based organization involved in applied research and functioning as an educational clearinghouse, as well as the Executive Director of Center for Cell Phone Applications in HealthCare. Since the 1980s, he has been a visionary and promoter of electronic medical record systems (EMRs). Twenty-five years ago, he started the annual conference Toward an Electronic Patient Record that each year drew several thousand attendees. Waegemann was one of the first to define the distinctions among EMRs, personal health records, and electronic health records. Several years ago, Waegemann became convinced that cell phones would become a major tool in healthcare, and he is the former chair of the Mobile Healthcare Alliance. He is considered an international leader in medical informatics with a special interest in electronic patient record systems, standards, networking, telemedicine, mHealth, and the creation of the national information infrastructure. He is the most sought-after speaker on electronic health records, e-Health, and m-Health, and in 2007, he was cited by HealthLeaders as one of 20 outstanding people in the United States who make healthcare better. He is designing mHealth Initiative’s new mHealth Networking and Web Conference as the central information place to learn about mHealth activities.