Legislation Promotes Mobile Health Technologies

December 3, 2012 — Representative Michael Honda (D-CA) introduced the Health Care Innovation and Marketplace Technologies Act of 2012 (H.R. 6626). The bill focuses on promoting the adoption of mobile health (mHealth) technologies. Representative Honda notes that there is a “lack of an established marketplace for new technologies and a lack of trained workers to handle the implementation and use of these technologies.” To support further development of such technologies, the bill requires the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish an Office of Wireless Health Technology. In addition, prize and grant programs would be established, along with low-interest small-business loan programs for clinics and physician practices, to promote the development, purchase and use of new mobile health technologies. A primary purpose of the bill is to eliminate barriers in wireless health technologies in order to provide more accessible healthcare for all Americans, including those with disabilities.