While Diversinet and AllOne Mobile didn't have a booth at the HIMSS event here in Chicago, the companies were busy meeting with the major EHR vendors, solidifying existing relationships and ensuring they have every segment of the EHR market mobilized. It's a simplification, however, to spin AllOne Mobile as a company that only mobilizes health records--as the name suggests, AllOne's vision is much more encompassing.

Mobihealthnews had a chance to meet up with Diversinet's SVP of Business Development Jay Couse. Diversinet is partially owned by AllOne. Here's how Couse describes the companies' plans:

"At Diversinet, we're not looking at what has been done and didn't work--we are focused on what needs to work. We're putting the consumer in the middle and making it work so that the consumer has transparency into all aspects of healthcare delivery," Couse said. "Consumers should have all the same information they already have when buying merchandise goods. They should know whether what they're buying is a reputable product. They should know how much it will cost them and what their obligations are once they do buy in. The next step is enabling them to know how much money is currently available in their various bank accounts to ensure that they can meet those obligations. Finally, they should receive reminders, continual treatment plans and follow-up plans. We almost have that kind of solution complete right now."

"Understanding the need for transparency is simple," Couse said, the patient, provider and payor all need to interact seamlessly. "Wireless technology figures in because receiving this information in an email when you get home at 8 o'clock at night is not as valuable as getting it in real-time on you phone."

AllOne Mobile powered by Diversinet works on a number of phones including three of the more popular smartphone platforms: Apple's iPhone, T-Mobile's Google Android-powered G1 and BlackBerry devices. Couse demonstrated the AllOne Mobile application running on all three of the applications during our meeting at HIMSS. He noted that each platform has its own charms, so AllOne Mobile does not have the exact same look and feel on every device, but the functionality is the same.

Each of the phones Couse had with him have their own Applications Store, which means that application developers looking to get applications into consumers hands do not need to work directly with wireless carriers to make it happen. Couse, however, explained that mobile applications and services like AllOne Mobile are not really consumer applications in the traditional sense and they aren't enterprise solutions either. As a result, these business-to-business-to-consumer applications (AllOne/Wireless Carrier to Employer/Payer to Consumer) need a new distribution model that takes into account the special role employers or payers play in the wireless health value chain. These channels do not really exist right now, Couse said, but companies like Diversinet and AllOne are working with carriers to build them.

Medical and health applications currently available for iPhones are not typically covered by employers or payers plans.

Expect to hear about more customer wins from Diversinet and AllOne Mobile soon, but it might take a while before the companies solve the distribution channel for wireless health applications running on carriers' networks. Afterall, in some ways those complications make companies like Diversinet, with is deep wireless background, that much more valuable.