Mobile health applications gain traction

Hyderabad: With more than 1,65,000 health apps available in the market, focus is now on overall wellness, biofeedback of the patient and compilation of psychological functions so that attention can be on disease management and treatment, according to a study carried out by IMS Institute. There is also a strong need for ensuring that the apps are able to connect to and communicate with the healthcare provider systems. This, though, is a major challenge.

It has been found that mHealth has good acceptance among those looking for information on disease and management of the treatment. But how much of it is being evaluated with the help of healthcare provider systems is the real challenge.

The usage of apps has increased from 26 per cent to 34 per cent but there are still barriers in terms of “developing trusted platforms of curation and evaluation”, opined researchers in their study titled ‘Patient adoption of mHealth: use, evidence and remaining barriers to mainstream acceptance.’

General surgeon Dr Arshad Mohammed explained, “An app will help a patient get all information but whether that information is related to his case is difficult to state. Apps’ usefulness can be evaluated only after a visit to the doctor who knows the case history of the patient.” Hence linking it is the crux, and till that is done, the success of the app is difficult to evaluate.”

With the total number of mHealth apps growing by 106 per cent since 2013, the choice of selecting the right app is a major task. The study found that 12 per cent of the people downloaded 90 per cent of the apps. It is not only a problem with the consumers but also with the physicians who are having difficulty opting for the right mHealth apps.

Dr S Sampat, senior general physician, explained: “At the same time, confidentiality, privacy and security are aspects that patients are insisting on. If these aspects are taken care of in the apps, then the apps will have more acceptability.”