I've necessarily been thinking a lot about patient safety in recent weeks because my dad suffered needlessly during his last month of life in a hospital with badly broken processes that resulted in poor communication and dangerously uncoordinated care.

I've already said how I believe mobile technology is helping to improve care by putting pertinent information in the hands of patients and caregivers, even if too many healthcare executives and physicians scared of change continue to defend the status quo. The thing is, the status quo is deeply entrenched, and it is powerful.

Here we are 11 years on from the publication of the landmark Institute of Medicine treatise, "Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century," which called for care to be "safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable." I would argue that we have achieved none of those six aims, at least not consistently.

Mobile healthcare technology certainly is addressing some of those goals, as we've been reminded of recently. It's nice to see more money flowing into easy-to-implement wireless technologies like real-time location systems and cutting-edge tools that can help predict debilitating conditions like Alzheimer's disease.

Still, a lot of money is being wasted fighting forces that do not want to change. MobiHealthNews broke the story this week of SK Telecom Americas shutting down an employee wellness platform that paired a wireless smart pedometer with a rewards system to encourage exercise and fight obesity. The price tag, $9.5 million over three years, is minuscule compared to the $8.1 trillion the U.S. has spent on healthcare in that time period, but how many similar, consumer-focused efforts have gone down the drain? It adds up.

I've long been a critic of venture capitalists who don't understand healthcare backing direct-to-consumer efforts—particularly fitness and wellness apps—because the bulk of the $2.8 trillion annual healthcare expenditures in this country comes not from the young, healthy fitness nuts, but from hospitalizations and treatment of older people with multiple chronic diseases. It also comes from employers, who foot most of the bill for insurance premiums, and SK Telecom went to employer groups that want to reduce their costs.

There is no doubt that prevention will play a major role in reining in future spending. It also will reduce income for hospitals dependent on pricey emergency care and inpatient admissions. Hospitals, like the one that kept my dad for weeks because nobody knew what was really going on, don't like that.

Similarly, imaging centers can't like diagnostic breakthroughs such as mobile ECGs and traditional medical device-makers have to feel at least somewhat threatened by diagnostic smartphone and tablet apps. Expect the establishment to continue to dig in their heels to protect the lucrative but inefficient—and often dangerous—status quo.

Meantime, the IOM's aim of a safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable health system remains elusive.