Posted on 04. Sep, 2012 by Byron Freney in Health, Wellness
Search by category for ?Health & Fitness? apps in Apple?s App Store, and you?ll find more than 8,000 hits. Most are variations on similar and unsurprising themes ??carb and calorie counters, exercise and weight loss routines, activity monitors, re-packaged, searchable medical information and a wide range of wellness aids.
Source: Apple iTunes
iTriage?is currently number six in the list of Top Ten Free Health and Wellness Apps. iTriage helps you answer the questions:
- ?What medical condition could I have?
- ?Where should I go for treatment??
User reviews so far are favorable, and some even credit the app for saving their lives or the lives of loved ones.
Apps like these are drawing attention from the medical establishment and the FDA (e.g.,?this story on NPR), which has concluded that when these apps manage to turn our phones and tablets into medical devices, they should be subject to closer scrutiny and oversight. In a previous post I pointed out that many Americans are increasingly turning to the Web and mobile apps to ?self-diagnosis their symptoms, even before walking into a doctors office.
?It just seems a little scary right now to have software making decisions about moles,? says one dermatologist. There are apps out there that calculate how much blood thinner to give heart attack patients, and even interpret blood tests, x-rays, ultrasounds and CT scans.
Developers worry that regulation will stifle innovation, and that even the most innocuous, information-oriented wellness apps will be hampered or thwarted on their quest to market. Experience tells us the question is no longer ?whether? we?ll see health care software regulation, but ?how? and ?when.?
Experience also tells us that these more practical questions don?t really have answers.
Or maybe they have answers, but the answers will change on a case-by-case basis.
Debates will rage in political arenas for decades, and individual decisions will offer precedence for future issues. The trick for technology innovators in the health care space will be no different than it is for innovators in other less heavily regulated markets ??up your game!
The most relevant, reliable and ubiquitously useful technologies will find their way to market. They always do. An innovator?s energy is spent in pursuit of things that aren?t yet possible, a drive that generates more motivation than frustration. Regulation is just another hurdle to be cleared, and something that has the potential to make successful products even more successful.
- Byron Freney,?Brand Strategist at Vital Works
byronfreney@vitalworks.net
415-244-6356
@byronfreney
FACTS, STATS, AND INSIGHTS TO TWEET
- Some iTriage user reviews credit the app?for saving their lives or lives of loved ones!?>> Tweet <<
- Apps that turn our phones/tablets into med devices should be subject to closer scrutiny, oversight?>> Tweet <<
- Many Americans are increasingly?turning to Web and mobile apps to self-diagnosis?their symptoms?>> Tweet <<
- It just seems a little scary right now to have SW making decisions about moles- says one dermatologist?>> Tweet <<
- Mobile health SW developers worry that regulation will stifle innovation?>> Tweet <<
- Information-oriented wellness apps will be hampered or thwarted on their quest to market?>> Tweet <<
- Experience tells us the Q is no longer whether we?ll see healthcare SW ?regulation,?but how and when? >> Tweet <<
- Trick for tech innovators in healthcare?s no different than in less regulated mkts- up your game!?>> Tweet?<<
- An innovator?s energy is spent in pursuit of things that aren?t yet possible!?>> Tweet?<<
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Source: http://www.innovationpov.com/is-itriage-and-others-a-case-for-health-care-software-regulation/
john tyler chuck elisabeth hasselbeck fran drescher scarlett o hara pat sajak vanna white
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