Abstract for: Socio-economic Impact of the mHealth Adoption in Managing Diabetes

Increasing prevalence of prediabetes and diabetes has become a serious problem in Korea. This study aims to compare the effects of various policy options for mHealth proliferation. In order to quantify the plausible possibility of mHealth, we focus on the healthcare system for prevention and diagnosis of diabetes. There are several important findings that are helpful to policy makers’ decisions. First, innovative healthcare delivery through mHealth has a positive influence on people’s health to reduce prediabetics and diabetics significantly. Moreover, the gap between the healthcare system with and without mHealth increases over time. Second, the effectiveness of mHealth adoption depends on the time when to implement the institutional reforms. If the institutional reforms are delayed, the government has to spend a lot of public finance to accomplish the same effects by raising the adoption rate. Finally, mHealth adoption can stimulate the national economic growth as the demand of new healthcare system rises. The development of relevant sectors enables sustainable economic growth by alleviating public burden for medical insurance as well as working as a new growth engine.