EMBARGOED until: 30 SEPTEMBER 2015

Official launch at: European Health Forum Gastein, Austria

Contact at end of email

The myhealthapps directory– a new classification to improve patient trust in the complex health app market

To download a PDF version of the Directory click here:  http://we.tl/g2VtjxxPXO

Latest publication from PatientView as part of a longer-term process to provide guidance for both users and developers of health apps to help improve the quality and relevance of apps.

The directory’s features include:

• A new classification system to raise public awareness that different apps carry different risks
• A global reach
• Focus on 300 health apps reviewed by patient groups and empowered consumers
• Focusing on care in the community, disability, health and wellness
• Each app is fully described, complete with reviews  
• Listings of apps developers from 28 countries, whose health apps are trusted by patients and public
• Listings of health apps availability in 45 different languages

What’s currently wrong with the health app market? ...

A review of the myhealthapps database of 450 health apps found that since the launch of myhealthapps.net at the end of 2013:

• 20 health apps had changed their name
• 58 of the health apps had been removed from the market
• 120 health apps had changed their price, of which 37 are now being offered for free instead of at cost
• 14 had been removed from the Android platform
• 16 had been added or relaunched to the Android platform
• 13 had been removed from the Apple Store
• 11 had been added or relaunched to the Apple Store
• 75 had changed their icon images
• 78 had changed their screenshots

If these figures are translated to the total health app market, then as many as 12,900 health apps will have been withdrawn in the past year. These statistics reveal the difficulty of keeping a handle on even good health apps and the importance of focusing on a few, rather than the estimated entire body of 100,000 health apps.

Sustainability of health apps is important to users: It is interesting that myhealthapps’ most viewed app “Know Your Heart Rhythm” in 2014 is the same in 2015. The app is developed by UK-based Nitro Digital in collaboration with Arrhythmia Alliance (A-A), a UK patient group.

Health apps can pose risks: The responses from 211 different stakeholders to the public consultation on the EU’s Green Paper on mHealth [Summary report on the public consultation on the Green Paper on mobile health, published 12 January 2015] identified several major areas of concern with mobile health apps that need to be addressed before the technology can go mainstream, including the fact of possible threats to patient safety.

Improving user understanding of risk

• Disability—health apps that enable people to cope with daily living and provide support to people with any type of disability, including physical, mental and sensory impairment. For example, text-to-speech apps that help people who have speaking difficulties or limited verbal abilities, to augment their communication skills.
• Health, wellness and care in the community are health apps that allow us to manage our health and healthcare without the necessity for medical assistance, and which do not result in clinical decision-making by the user, or require input from a health professional. These apps include the bulk of lifestyle health apps (diet, exercise, stopping smoking etc), many informational apps, and those that enable people to gain support from carers, family, or friends. Also included here are simple pill reminders, since in the normal course of events people cannot consult on a daily basis their doctors or pharmacists when to take their medication. (Although these latter reminders do need to follow clinical recommendations, and as such users should assure themselves that the app has been produced with medical advice.) Apps not included in this class are ones that provide information to help people decide whether they should go and visit their doctor, which are classified as medical apps—in that the person is making a medical decision based on the information received. Also not included are most of the health apps that support glucose monitoring in diabetes (unless they provide diet or nutritional advice), since the results generated by these apps do result in a clinical decision being made by the patient as to whether they should take their diabetes medication.
• Medical apps. These are health apps that lead to any sort of clinical decision-making, diagnosis or treatment. Health apps that work alongside medical devices are included in this class as well.

Generally speaking, medical apps will pose more safety risks to the public and patients because they involve clinical decision-making processes (though for some patients, say with renal disease, the food they eat can mean the difference between life and death).  The above definitions hold no legal context but are drawn up as a result of the research already undertaken by myhealthapps with users and other stakeholders (see end of press release for references). They represent the users’ perspective only, for example the patients and carers who use health apps.  However, we expect the definitions to evolve with time.  This directory focuses on the first two classes of apps (300 in all). A further directory of medical apps will follow in 2016.

Next steps

• A white paper publishing the results of a survey of 50 health app developers/commissioners, which explains what information they need to know from users to improve the quality of their apps (late 2015)
• New surveys will also be undertaken among patients/consumers/ health professionals to broaden understanding of how to respond to app developers, as well as define health professional, app commissioner and publisher needs.
• The eventual goal is to draft a set of user guidelines to help app developers improve the quality of their health apps, which should also be published in early 2016.

Some background:

Events, research and publication

2015:  What do patients and carers need in health apps – but are not getting?  Results of a • global survey of 1,130 patient and carers • cross-stakeholder meeting on 12 November 2014, to help define concepts for new apps that address patient and carer unmet need. Collaborative project with Health 2.0, TICBioMed and the EU-funded GET project. http://we.tl/aSZW2lydGi; Our The UK’s Best Mobile Health App Competition: Organised with techUK and UK Trade & Investment. The final four shortlisted companies and winner were showcased at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.http://www.techuk.org/insights/news/item/3635-therapy-box-crowned-the-uk-s-most-innovative-mhealth-app

2014: Patient survey on the value of services in the home to support independent living and care for people with long-term conditions Europe-wide project For the European Commission and the Greek Presidency of the EU Presented at e-health Athens, May 2014 http://bit.ly/1NCGcx;  First-ever toolkit for public and patients to answer their major questions about health apps:  http://we.tl/cGgC7agO9Z

2013:  What do people what from their health apps? International patient group survey
http://alexwyke.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/what-do-people-want-from-their-health-apps/;  Health apps: where do they make sense? Results of a workshop in collaboration with UK government’s  KTN Health apps from the perspectives of patients, standards and policieshttp://bit.ly/1Kg3rqU

2012: The European Directory of Health Apps  http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/first-european-directory-health-apps-recommended-patients-and-consumers

myhealthapps partners

Our partners include those who have kindly provided support for the development and maintenance of the myhealthapps.net website as well as research collaborators with whom we work on a project basis: • App Quality Alliance • Digital Health and Care Alliance (DHACA) • European Connected Health Alliance (ECHAlliance) • Global Accessibility Reporting Initiative (GARI) • GSK • Health 2.0 • Janssen • NHS Health Apps Library • Research2Guidance • techUK • Telefonica • TICBioMed. In addition myhealthapps has a media partnership with European Health Forum Gastein.

Our thanks also go to …

Pēteris Zilgalvis and his team in the Health and Wellbeing Unit, DG CONNECT, at the European Commission, for their encouragement as well as, of course, the many consumer, disability and patient groups which have contributed reviews of the apps and participated in our research work.

About PatientView

A UK-based research, publishing and consultancy group, PatientView has been collecting and analysing the perspectives of tens of thousands of patients and patient groups since 2000 – having the capacity to reach out to 120,000 patients’ organisations worldwide, covering over 1,000 specialities. PatientView launched the myhealthapps.net website in November 2013 to provide an independent portal for patients, carers and health conscious consumers to find apps that have been tried, tested and trusted by patient and health consumer groups. A full list of reviewers can be found on http://www.myhealthapps.net/reviewers

 myhealthapps.net derives no income from app developers or app downloads.