Imagine playing a few hours of "Call of Duty" and wrapping up a good mission with a quick check of your pulse, blood pressure and blood-glucose level. Or maybe you're playing "Madden 25" or "FIFA '14," and each win nets you a free visit to the local gym or health club.
Uh, no.
As tempting as those scenarios may be to mHealth enthusiasts, we aren't on the verge of integrating health and wellness tools into popular video or online games. That's not what gaming and gaming technology is about in this space.
As the Innovation Zone Pavilion and Games for Health Workshop at this week's HIMSS Media mHealth Summit will point out, mHealth gaming is still in its infancy, with developers, payers and healthcare providers all trying to find the right mix between innovation and engagement. So instead of looking at today's top games and wondering how they can be adapted for healthcare, it's best to take a look at today's biggest healthcare challenges and try to determine how gaming technology might address them.
'In general the market is still finding its way," says Ben Sawyer, co-founder of Digitalmill and the Games for Health Project. "There's still a lot of work to be done to move to commercialization, It's not just a matter of having something work in a lab."
Sawyer said he's seeing some good games, but they aren't ready for the market yet. Game developers know how to create games, he said, but they're not as skilled in linking those games to clinical outcomes – which is what the healthcare industry needs to justify any investment.
That's where the mHealth Summit comes into play.
On Monday and Tuesday, Sawyer, co-founder Beth Bryant and the Games for Health crew will host a number of innovative games in the Innovation Zone in the mHealth Summit Exhibition Hall. On Wednesday, they'll host a workshop from 1-6 p.m. for both providers and game developers, featuring guest speakers, demos and breakout sessions designed to "help organizations big and small understand both the strategic opportunities for using games in health and healthcare, but also the nitty-gritty of building effective health games."
Sawyer calls the mHealth gaming movement "a frustrating work in progress," and hopes events like the mHealth Summit can bring the investors and healthcare providers together with the game-makers. "We need to start seeing that match-making," he said.
"These games aren't being (created) to make money, but to address health issues," he added. "It's almost like you're selling a new service rather than trying to find an outlet for a service that you’re already charging for."
Above all else, Sawyer said healthcare needs to recognize the "self-evident experiences that show the powerful nature that a game could have."
That doesn't mean plugging some sort of healthcare app into "Halo" or "Grand Theft Auto," but finding a way to marry the gaming experience with a significant clinical outcome.
