LIVE FROM mHEALTH SUMMIT, WASHINGTON DC: Chanin Wendling, manager for ehealth at Geisinger Health System, was asked during the morning session about how she went about deploying a new app.

Wendling spoke about her experience of working with a cardiac rehabilitation app.“Not everything will work,” she acknowledged. Such an app might offer a way to integrate on and offline care for patients. “We are looking for a problem that technology might be able to solve,” she said, explaining how the Pennsylvania-based healthcare provider went about the process.

Moderator Don Jones, a vice president with Qualcomm Life, said Wendling appeared to embrace the classic maxim of Silicon Valley – “Don’t fail slowly” – which essentially supports a rapid trial-and-error approach to establish whether a new service is possible.

Scott Peterson, a vice president with Verizon Healthcare, broadly agreed with that approach, although he did point out the difference between embracing it for consumer-facing apps and those used by the healthcare industry itself.

Jones asked him if there was a risk of the two types of apps operating “somewhat in parallel”.

“The risk is mitigated because consumers want more than a slick app. Providers and patients want to access the best care,” said Peterson.