Mobile Solutions, From Start to Finish

On the cusp of the fastest adopted technology – the smartphone – comes apps that can provide you with medical information at the touch of a screen. 

(image from smithandjones.com)

The mobile health industry is continually looking to identify ways to improve the patient experience through apps. From healthier patients to happier caregivers, consumers are seeing how this technology can revolutionize their lives. 

With a smartphone, patients can connect with their doctors and monitor their health. They can even link their medical devices to transmit data to their caretakers. Their doctors and nurses can share information easily from anywhere.

Mobile devices are already making a difference in underserved communities and remote areas.  These devices provide data to prevent diseases from going undiagnosed.

There is one rule to abide by according to Morgan Reed, Director of the Association for Competitive Technology – do no harm. The FDA is on board with this rule, having introduced regulations for mHealth apps.  With guidelines now established, investors are funding new projects and those in the queue are moving forward.  Business models for mHealth apps are emerging and there are an incredible amount of opportunities for developers to produce high-quality, safe and trustworthy apps. 

This is just the beginning of the bright future of apps.  As the marketplace continues to evolve, so will the developers and the investors funding their apps.  This innovation is bringing the world closer to better health.

mHealth apps are representative of the revolution in the global healthcare solutions market.  This market is split into connected medical devices and healthcare applications, with apps dominating the marketplace. 

Connected devices, including those for cardiac monitoring, diabetes management, multi-parameter tracking and respiratory monitoring, are going to gain traction in the marketplace.  Today’s Medical Developments expects the highest growth to be seen in the area of diabetes management due to the increasing diabetic population. 

mHealth apps are divided into health and medical apps.  Health apps include exercise, weight loss, women’s health, sleep and meditation, medication reminders, as well as other apps.  Medical apps are used for reference.  While the majority of downloads come from healthcare applications, revenue is not significant as many are free or low-cost.  Exercise apps currently dominate this area, but sleep and meditation as well as weight loss apps are expected to grow at the highest rate in the upcoming years.

Today’s Medical Developments also analyzed market dynamics, finding that major drivers include increased awareness of chronic diseases, the continued growth of smartphones, high penetration 3G/4G networks, advanced connectivity and a promise of better healthcare cost-efficiency.  However, regulation from the FDA and EU as well as data insecurity are impacting market growth. 

Significant developments in mHealth are coming from venture capitalists as they continue to invest in the monitoring segment, healthcare IT and consumer apps.  Additionally, the connected device market is expected to help provide better healthcare solutions.

(Image from marketsandmarkets.com)

Currently, North America possesses the largest share of the global mHealth department – estimated at $2.9 billion.  Europe and Asia are expected to see potential growth resulting from the adoption of mobile tech and government initiatives.  Also expected to emerge as contributors to growth are the U.K., India, China, Japan, Africa and Australia.

While many associations are utilizing apps to disseminate information, an increasing amount are using this technology to enable attendees to get the most information they can out of meetings, conferences and trade shows. 

Event apps provide users with easy access to schedule information, registration, updates to locations or times and even post-event surveys. With a large number of conference attendees using smartphones, investing in an app seems like a smart idea. 

Teresa Perrell, conference manager of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, has seen great success with their free app.  She told Associations Now that 78 percent of the event’s attendees downloaded their app.  She is now looking into developing an app to enable conference participants to earn continuing education credit from attending sessions. 

(image by Julius Solaris eventmanagerblog.com)

The only catch to these apps is WiFi.  While users may be provided free WiFi for events, associations are footing the bill.  Organizers are left to decide how much WiFi is needed and where and how strong the signal needs to be based upon the amount of people in attendance. 

This leaves associations with a big decision to make – build a native app or rely on WiFi.  While building a native app – one that is downloaded onto a smartphone and can be accessed at any time – is costly, it may be worth the investment.  What good is building an app that no one can access in WiFi-free zones?

Has your association developed an app for events? If so, did you go the native route?  Share your app stories with us on Twitter: @FountainheadMob. 

After months of waiting, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it will only regulate a small percentage of the rapidly growing mHealth sector. 

The agency, according to The New York Times, has established their goal: “to oversee apps that function like medical devices, performing ultrasounds for example, that could pose risks to patients.” Officials are declining to regulate apps for fitness and weight loss. 

There are some apps that have already gained approval; one turns a phone into a portable electrocardiogram and the other doubles as an ultrasound device. 

The FDA’s decision is likely to result in the innovation of more apps that perform medical functions.  Many developers have been waiting in the wings for the announcement of these regulatory rules. 

Apps will be considered case-by-case and will not need to complete clinical trials if it is similar to a device already out on the market.  All apps will follow the same regulatory standards that apply for the medical devices.  For instance, an app that turns your phone into an electrocardiogram will need to comply with the regulations of an electrocardiogram you would see at a hospital.  Forty of these apps have been approved over the past two years.

(image from cooley.com)

Now that the FDA has spoken, what do you think the future of mHealth holds?

As mHealth continues to gain traction in the marketplace, advocates are looking to increase the support behind this emerging field.  Additional validation has come in the form of a new online reference tool from Johns Hopkins University – mHealth Evidence.

(image from mobiehealthnews.com)

mHealth Evidence was developed to help researchers to “locate literature demonstrating the feasibility, usability and efficacy of mobile technologies in healthcare,” as reported by MobiHealthNews. Following a successful soft launch in June, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health introduced this tool through the Knowledge for Health (K4Health) project. 

This reference tool gathers available information regarding mHealth technologies and includes a searchable database to help identify where gaps of data exist.

Currently, mHealth Evidence has approximately 4,400 records and automatically pulls new information from the National Library of Medicine’s index of medical literature.  In the future, information will be added from literature sources indexed by Google Scholar.  K4Health will manually add in information and will take submissions from those who would like to add to the database.  The project is also working on tagging all database records. 

Users can search through mHealth Evidence by using Medical Subject Headings terms, PubMed ID codes, dates and locations.  Registered users are able to save searches and receive email alerts.   Access to this database is free.