Medical Apps Help Improve Patient Health

According to the recent Manhattan survey, Mobile apps are widely used to improve the outcome of the patient. Over two third doctors recommended mobile apps to their patients last year. Most of these are related to physical fitness, diet and exercise. For example, these apps help the patient to calculate calorie intake and loss. Many tracking devices are also introduced which calculate duration of your exercise, your heart beat and calorie loss.

Joseph Kvedar, MD, president of the Center for Connected Health (CCH) said “The mobile revolution is everywhere around us, “It’s all about mobile now, and physicians can’t help but notice that, and they feel they have to get involved in some way.”

There are more than 40,000 apps related to medical and health are available and doctors are unsure which one is suitable for patients. Only half of the physicians recommend specific apps to their patients. Center for Connected Health (CCH) established a new website in which they rate trackers and apps. IMS also started a project in which they curate relevant apps. All doctors need to first test these apps before prescribing to others.  A little is known about the clinical effectiveness of these apps. About 100 apps are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Conclusion:

Tens of thousands of medical apps are available for android and apple users. These apps help the patients manage their health and fitness. According to estimates, 500 million users are using these medical apps. Mostly these users are doctors, patients and consumers. FDA also encourages development of apps which that provide important information to health care providers. FDA issued a Mobile Medical Applications Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff to check for potentially harmful apps.