Identifying and Prioritizing the Effective Factors in Commercialization of Mobile Health

Mobile phone, as a manifestation of modern communication technology, has a strong position in human life and is an integral part of daily life. The health industry is also one of the main areas where mobile penetration in the industry has resulted in surprising advances and various challenges. Mobile health (activities and medical operations supported by the mobile phone) serves as a digital assistant for information, health and personal care. Health commercialization is a global phenomenon and many health systems in the world are affected by it. The aim of this study was to prioritize the factors influencing the commercialization of mobile health.
In this applied study, through reviewing studies in the field of mobile health commercialization, 31 leading indicators of mobile health commercialization were identified and after obtaining the opinions of experts and explorative factor analysis, the identified indicators were categorized in 6 dimensions and ranked using a fuzzy hierarchy analysis.
The obtained indicators were respectively, service development, market management, organization and legal processes, technology and infrastructure, finances and large substrates. What is noteworthy in the proposed prioritization compared to the studied documents is the comprehensiveness of the relevant indicators and consideration of the various dimensions of commercialization in relation to similar researches.
Regardless of the prioritization of effective factors on mobile health commercialization, a noteworthy point in this framework is significant importance of convergence of this technology with the economic structure governing health care system of the country, agreement of the technology with basic health infrastructures and methods of improvement of mobile health technology that undoubtedly, each of them, by itself, is an important factor in mobile health commercialization.