By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    stress management for healthcare workers
    3 Tips For Healthcare Professionals: How To Stay Beautiful, Healthy, and Happy
    November 2, 2021
    importance of relaxing on the weekend for your health
    Importance of Relaxing During the Weekend for Optimal Health
    March 25, 2022
    LASIK Eye Surgery
    What Is LASIK Eye Surgery?
    May 16, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    All That You Need to Know About Clenbuterol
    November 22, 2019
    Top 5 Facts About CPPA Accreditation
    April 9, 2015
    mental health benefits school
    Mental Health & Practical Benefits of Continuing Education After 30
    June 30, 2024
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Mobile Health Apps: Pass the Secret Sauce
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > eHealth > Mobile Health Apps: Pass the Secret Sauce
eHealth

Mobile Health Apps: Pass the Secret Sauce

David Harlow
David Harlow
Share
6 Min Read
SHARE

mhealth appsThe IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics released a mhealth appsThe IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics released a report on the ecosystem bloody mess of 40,000+ mobile health apps that are available today. Hat tip to Jane Sarasohn-Kahn for writing about it today at Health Populi.

From the executive summary:

Over time, the app maturity model will see apps progress from being recommended on an ad hoc basis by individual physicians, to systematic use in healthcare, and ultimately to an end goal of being a fully integrated component of healthcare management. There are four key steps to move through on this process: recognition by payers and providers of the role that apps can play in healthcare; security and privacy guidelines and assurances being put in place between providers, patients and app developers; systematic curation and evaluation of apps that can provide both physicians and patients with useful summarized content about apps that can aid decision-making regarding their appropriate use; and integration of apps with other aspects of patient care. Underpinning all of this will be the generation of credible evidence of value derived from the use of apps that will demonstrate the nature and magnitude of behavioral changes or improved health outcomes.

(Emphasis supplied.)

We are nowhere near this endpoint — integration of the use of health apps into health care management — right now, due to a number of factors.

More Read

Newsletter_Pic2_08_20_2015
Have You Checked Your Hospital Yelp Listing Lately?
Google + And Health Train Express
New Ways to Lose Weight
Introducing Our ‘In Case of Emergency’ PLUS app
Rise of People Power or Arrogance of the Academy?

Some of the issues highlighted by IIHI are not being addressed because of market failures. For example, systematic curation and evaluation of apps was a central part of the business of Happtique, but that has fallen by the wayside. HealthTap and Jiff have announced plans to carry forward this work, Cigna has its recently unveiled GoYou marketplace for Cigna members only, and Aetna has its CarePass platform. It remains to be seen whether any of these curation plays will be based on, or will meet, the criterion of generating credible evidence of value derived from the use of health apps.

There is a bias in the marketplace against the creation of walled gardens, but since the wished-for ecosystem is not ready for prime time, there are advantages to the curated walled gardens of apps that share a platform and that can share data with patients, with clinicians, with each other.

A foundational element necessary to any finding of efficacy and value — even assuming that there is some science or medicine backing up an app, which the IIHI report calls into question for most of the 40,000+ health apps out there — is the secret sauce of patient engagement. The vast majority of health apps are downloaded, used briefly, and then abandoned. If we are all glued to our smartphones, why can’t we be glued to our health apps? Until the addictive qualities of wildly popular apps are isolated in the lab and grafted onto health apps that seek to promote and reinforce healthy behavior change, we will continue to have 40,000 tail-chasers out there. (To be fair, some developers have focused on the fact that we are glued to our smartphones, and use their motion and activity as proxies for our health (e.g., ginger.io). This approach uses a different definition of “secret sauce.”)

Until these issues are solved, apps will not be recognized by payors and providers, and they will not be integrated with other aspects of patient care.

My clients, of course, are different 🙂  Not only are their apps perfect, but I have worked with them to solve the security and privacy issues in a manner that will ease their apps’ adoption by health care providers and by the general public.

Implementation of the recently finalized FDA mobile health app guidelines will affect a small subset of these apps, and the apps need to fit into a broader digital health ecosystem as well.

The broad push for “prescribable” apps has the potential to drive up prices without improving efficacy. Payors, providers and patients should all be concerned about ensuring an appropriate price to value relationship over the long term, and app developers need to be sensitive to this issue as well. As we move to broader adoption of global payment models, ACOs and similar risk-bearing entities will have a greater interest in testing apps and providing them at low or no cost to patients.

Bottom line: Health apps can help, the vast majority do not, and the opportunities for innovative, effective solutions are many. Collaborative patient-provider efforts to demonstrate efficacy (as Jane suggests) could help move the ball forward, and patient-directed health data sharing that I have argued for could help facilitate that forward motion.

TAGGED:mobile appspatient engagement
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

Review of eResponder Personal Emergency Response System (PERS)

March 21, 2014

Who is responsible for patient engagement within pharma?

November 10, 2015
a christmas story
BusinessSocial Media

Is Your Social Media Just a Crummy Commercial?

December 19, 2013

How Meetup Can Magnify Your Hospital’s Public Presence

September 10, 2014
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?