Hispanics represent a ripe market for mobile healthcare

The booming Hispanic population is a great, untapped market for so many industries. Count mobile healthcare among them.

At least that's the theory of mobile booster Jonathan Spalter, a former spokesman for Vice President Al Gore during the Clinton administration. Writing at the Huffington Post, Spalter connects the dots from a number of studies to conclude that Hispanics are good candidates for wireless and mobile technologies to monitor and improve their health. "Hispanics are more likely than some other groups to suffer from diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Text messaging is an obvious and inexpensive way to expand preventive care by reminding people to check their blood sugar levels, check their blood pressure or take their medications. Wireless monitoring of a heart condition is already a reality," Spalter says.

Why? Because, according to research by the Hispanic Institute and Mobile Future, more than half of adult Hispanics in the U.S. have mobile Internet access, far ahead of the white population. Hispanics also lead other ethnic groups in mobile phone ownership and minutes used, Spalter says. "Much of the health care debate, for example, centers on how to control costs while expanding access, monitoring and information. Hispanic Americans seem ready and willing to leverage their wireless devices to do all three," he says.

For more on Hispanics and mobile healthcare:
- click on over to Spalter's Huffington Post piece

Related Articles:
Kaiser clinic experiments with text reminders
Cell phones may revolutionize patient monitoring