LIVE FROM GSMA-mHA MOBILE HEALTH SUMMIT 2012:  Orange and Sorin, a medical device vendor, are set to launch a wireless-enabled cardiac implant in mid-June, said Thierry Zylberberg, Orange EVP and general manager of its healthcare business, during his keynote today at the Mobile Health Summit.

The launch with Sorin shows the value of collaboration, according to Zylberberg, but also demonstrated some unresolved issues in the mobile health business model.

The cardiac implant, which will be available in six countries at its launch, will send data to a bedside monitor which in turn regularly uploads its memory to doctors over the cellular network.  Orange has previously talked about this product but is now about to launch the result of its co-operation with Sorin.

However Zylberberg cautioned there are still questions about how such mobile health services work. For instance he pointed to how the two partners were going to be reimbursed. Given the ongoing monitoring involved in the service (which obviously carries a cost), a one-off purchase of the cardiac implant by a healthcare provider might not cover costs. Another reimbursement model is needed, he suggested. “This is a major issue in this new world”.

Another unclear area is around medical data compliance. This can vary in different parts of the arrangement between the two companies. For instance the physical implant is Sorin’s responsibility and the cellular network in Orange’s. There are probably other areas which are not so obvious. Overall it is a new model for mobile operators to contend with. “It is not clearcut where are the divisions of responsibility,” he said.

In his presentation Zylberberg also talked about possible frameworks for mobile operators so they can progress in the mobile health market. In one slide he segmented the market into B2B type services (services provided by mobile operators to healthcare providers such as hospitals), B2C services which are health or wellness services delivered by operators direct to end-users. He indicated B2C markets for health are more problematic for operators than B2B ones. In the middle are more complex services such as the one mentioned above with Sorin which do not fall so easily into either category.

In a second slide he contrasted on one arm of a graph health efficiency and on the other, health access. Some services such as connected hospitals and remote monitoring already have distinct positions on one arm of the graph or the other.