Mobile health industry scrambling
This week I spoke with Scott Sheaf of Battelle about the impact Apple’s new consumer app and developer tools could have on mobile health and the state of the market when it comes to regulation, safety and consumer engagement.
Apple announced its long-anticipated app designed to connect healthcare information from a variety of third-party apps. The personal computing giant has teamed with Mayo Clinic to provide consumers with a comprehensive medical view on a mobile device.
This offering is a natural follow up to the popularity of Fitbits and other such personal tracking devices, said Sheaf. Apple getting involved in this market “pushes personal tracking into the bigger picture." Apple, Samsung and other big players are bringing the integration aspect into the market. Devices are producing lots of data but the market for gaining insight from the vast amounts of information is in its infancy. “It’s an idea whose time has come."
Despite the potential, lots of challenges remain including privacy, safety, regulation and determining who has ultimate responsibility. For the time being, many apps and trackers are considered tools that do not require oversight, but Sheaf said he predicts more invasive sensors in the future, which would certainly be eligible for oversight.
Meanwhile, as data flows from a device such as a blood pressure monitor to the user’s cell phone to a cellular network and then to the internet that nobody controls, explained Sheaf, personal data ends up all over the place.
“There’s a lot of work going on now to try to give the industry some guidance on how to deal with these issues.” The medical device industry is scrambling, he said, to figure out how to manage risk management and quality systems and liability when a product has a vulnerability. “Every major manufacturer is very worried about these things. Plausible deniability is over. People have to be aware of the cyber risks.”
Just another day at the office for a lot of you.
Beth Walsh
Clinical Innovation + Technology editor
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.