By Eric Wicklund, mHealth Intelligence | June 14, 2019
UK Health officials are trying to expand their library of approved mHealth apps by creating a digital health portal for developers to screen their platforms.
The National Health Service’s new digital assessment portal, which went live in May and is in beta until a planned launch in September, will allow NHS-sanctioned assessors to review connected health apps in development to make sure they comply with government standards.
“Health and care is one of the fastest growing segments in the apps market, with literally hundreds of thousands of apps available in smartphone apps stores,” Ian Phoenix, Director of Citizen Technology in the NHS’ digital department, said in a press release. “We know patients really value having an NHS library which they can use as a trusted source of information on which apps are safe and effective.”
“No surprise that there is high demand among developers to have their apps considered for inclusion and the launch of this digital portal should help accelerate that process to give patients the options of more apps, improving their ability to look after their own health and wellbeing,” he added. “This is about streamlining the process, but apps will still need to meet the same rigorous NHS standards to pass the assessment to appear on the library.”
The NHS launched its Apps Library in April 2017 after four-years of debate over how to properly analyze new mHealth platforms. The online resource now features more than 70 apps.
READ MORE: New Non-Profit Aims to Develop Digital Medicine Research, Standards
In February 2018 the agency contracted with Our Mobile Health, a London-based mHealth company, to assess the apps against the agency’s clinical, technical and safety standards. Those apps are evaluated in nine categories, including clinical safety, data security and user accessibility.
NHS Digital officials said the new portal “will act as an online self-service tool for developers – by making the process easier it is intended to accelerate the increase in the volume of apps on the library. It will also be the mechanism through which approved assessors will assess apps before approving them for inclusion on the library.”
“For the first time, it means a fully digital end to end process for developers, assessors and auditors,” they concluded in the press release.
In developing their library, the NHS is hoping to create what it calls a “one-stop shop” for consumers seeking mHealth apps.
“Digital technology is now a part of all our lives and in the NHS we want to harness the advantages of digital to improve services and empower patients to take control of their own health,” said Juliet Bauer, NHS England’s chief digital officer.
READ MORE: AI Group Sees Technology’s Potential in Telehealth, mHealth Programs
The NHS had launched the NHS Health Apps Library in 2013, but closed the site two years later after a study published in BMC Medicine found “poor and inconsistent implementation of privacy and security, with 28 percent of apps lacking a privacy policy and one even transmitting personally identifying data the policy claimed would be anonymous.”
The authors of that study, Paul Wicks and Emil Chiauzzi – employees of PatientsLikeMe, which had a free clinical trial matching tool listed in the NHS Health Apps Library – noted mHealth apps can be and are being reviewed by journals, organizations or commercial sites like iMedicalApps, but the best bet may lie in a government program.
“In order for medical apps to evolve, improved oversight and continuous quality review is required,” they wrote. “Centralized oversight by regulatory bodies has the advantage of regulatory expertise and powers to sanction. However, these regulatory bodies are too under-resourced to wade through the sheer volume of apps and there appears to be little appetite to get involved.”
Healthcare organizations and federal regulators have long sought to harness the so-called “Wild Wild West” of mHealth apps – now numbering more than 318,500 worldwide – with standards that reassure both provider and consumers.
On this side of the Atlantic, Xcertia, an mHealth app evaluation and certification resource launched in 2016 by the American Medical Association, American Heart Association and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, recently released a new draft of proposed guidelines for mHealth apps, adding standards for operability, usability and content to its previously released guidelines for privacy and security.
READ MORE: mHealth Helps Young Arthritis Patients Communicate Their Care Needs
“Our guidelines development is an iterative process and our goal is to include input and comment from key stakeholders at every step along the way,” Xcertia Board Chair Michael Hodgkins, MD, said in a press release. “Recognizing that privacy and security are paramount to overcoming concerns that are hindering the adoption and use of mHealth apps, we accelerated the release of the privacy and security guidelines in October, to gain the endorsement of our board and other key partners. We are pleased to release the guidelines, and seek additional comment on all five sections.”
The latest to jump on the bandwagon is Express Scripts. Last month, the pharmacy benefit management company announced plans to create a digital health formulary to help payers and their members sort through the vast array of mHealth services, including apps.
“We see a need to put mechanisms in place to help carefully manage these innovations, and are proud to lead again by being the first health services organization to establish a formulary of this nature,” Mark Bini, the company’s vice president of innovation and member experience, said in a press release. “This formulary will help ensure developers do right by payers and consumers, while increasing patient access to technology that can help improve their health.”