Methodology
How the National Mobile Health Survey is collected and how the published figures are calculated. Written for researchers, analysts, and anyone citing the data closely.
Population and recruitment
The survey covers mobile health programs operating in the United States. Any program is eligible, whichever kind of organization runs it. Respondents include community health centers, hospitals, universities, free clinics, government agencies, and non-profit organizations.
Recruitment runs through the consortium's partner network, state and regional health associations, and direct outreach to program leaders. Participation is voluntary. The sample is therefore one of programs that chose to respond rather than a random sample of the field, which is standard for surveys of this kind and matters when generalising from the results.
The May 2026 cut comprises 142 programs operating 338 mobile units across 38 states.
Reporting and refresh
Programs report through a structured questionnaire covering operations, services, populations served, costs, revenue, and barriers. Responses are compiled into a single response set, and the dashboard is rebuilt from the current set each month. Published figures reflect the most recent cut rather than a live feed.
Response bases
Not every program answers every question. Some questions drew responses from all 142 programs and others from fewer, depending on what a program tracks and what it is able to share.
Every chart on the dashboard states the number of programs it was calculated from. Citations should carry that number. A finding that 82.4% of programs deliver preventative screenings describes 82.4% of the programs answering that question.
Calculation
Percentages are shares of programs responding to the question in hand. They are not estimates of national prevalence.
Averages are arithmetic means across responding programs, unweighted. A program running one mobile unit and a program running six contribute equally. Where program size is likely to affect a figure, read the accompanying distribution rather than the mean alone.
Income shares were reported inconsistently, some in dollars and some as percentages. Shares are normalised within each program before averaging, so each program contributes one complete revenue profile.
Cost figures are means per line item, calculated across the programs reporting that line. Because the reporting base differs between lines, the line items should not be added together to produce a total operating cost. The dashboard publishes an average annual operating cost calculated directly, which is the figure to use.
Scope
The survey measures what programs report about themselves. It does not include patient-level clinical data, claims, or outcome measures, and it is not a census of mobile health programs in the United States.
Data access
Findings are published openly. Response-level data is confidential and shared only under a data use agreement, as part of a research partnership. Seeusing the findings.
Citation
Global Mobile Healthcare Research Consortium. National Mobile Health Survey, May 2026 cut. https://www.gmhrc.org/survey/