Mobile Health technologies and services are proliferating as both the healthcare and mobile industries become increasingly aware and interested in their potential to improve efficiencies and access while reducing costs. The number of wellness and health related applications has grown exponentially as consumers incorporate health and fitness information and tools into their mobile lifestyle. Health professionals are harnessing the power of mobile to improve their work flow, manage their patients and provide peer-to-peer support. Health systems specialists, multi-lateral organisations and National Health and ICT Ministries are working to understand what impact Mobile Health will have on existing eHealth and teleHealth strategies, while the development community is trialling the application of devices and services to increase access and health outcomes, particularly in low-resource settings.

While the pace of innovation and engagement across sectors is promising, it can also produce confusion as different stakeholders in the Mobile Health space struggle to define and understand the variety of ways that mobile can be applied in healthcare, and in turn, conceptualise these uses in ways that make sense for them within the larger health value chain. Despite the myriad of perspectives that different stakeholders perceive regarding the purpose, value and application of different Mobile Health services, fundamental considerations and common questions exist across the development phase of all service types. This discussion document proposes an approach to Mobile Health Service Design and Development that is reflective of these commonalities, including universal questions across services, market and service selection, value chain considerations, technical functionality, target market and partnership and regulatory decisions. These components of service design are brought to life through the application of these dimensions to a hypothetical example of a health hotline. The paper concludes by identifying key messages and next steps for research in this area.