mHealth Apps: Overwhelming Choice, Limited Proven Efficacy, Security Issues

According a new study just released by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, the number of mobile health applications (mHealth apps) available to consumers now surpasses 165,000. The study, Patient Adoption of mHealth: Use, Evidence and Remaining Barriers to Mainstream Acceptance, analyzed 26,864 apps available in the U.S. Apple iTunes and Android app stores -- a representative sample of the most widely used mHealth apps by consumers.

The problem is this: too many apps, too little efficacy in terms of health outcomes.

"The fast-paced growth of the healthcare app market has outpaced the ability to develop oversight and guidance for accuracy of clinical content contained in mHealth apps," concludes the report. "The sheer volume of choices in the consumer mHealth apps available in the absence of a mechanism for certifying or ranking apps leaves providers and consumers on their own to navigate app selection. This environment leads to provider reluctance in prescribing mHealth apps given the unknowns about accuracy, efficacy as well as security."

What's the solution?

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Impact of mHealth on Adherence and Patient Outcomes Needs Improving. How "Open, Crowdsourced" Data from Pharma Can Help

A study just published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) concludes that "there is potential for mHealth tools to better facilitate adherence to chronic disease management, but the evidence supporting its current effectiveness is mixed. Further research should focus on understanding and improving how mHealth tools can overcome specific barriers to adherence."

The study was a systematic review of 107 studies published in peer-reviewed journals. It aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mHealth in supporting adherence of patients to chronic disease management -- which the authors call “mAdherence” -- and the usability, feasibility, and acceptability of mAdherence tools and platforms for chronic disease management.

The authors classified mAdherence tools and platforms into four main categories: SMS; phone plus software or application; phone plus specific instrument (medical device connected to phone via a cord); or phone plus wireless or Bluetooth-compatible device (see figure below):

Types of mobile tools used in mAdherence. Click on image to enlarge.

What were the results and how can the pharmaceutical industry help?

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Millennials Trust Pharma Social Media, Mobile Apps & Advertising a Hell of a Lot More Than Their Geezer Parents!

According to findings released today from the Fifth Annual Makovsky/Kelton “Pulse of Online Health” Survey, the percentage of Americans who trust pharma-sponsored social media "a lot" or "completely" increased from 17% in 2014 to 21% in 2015.

The same survey also revealed another trend: In 2010, 88% of Americans were willing to visit a pharma-sponsored Web site (e.g., a drug.com site), whereas in 2015 that percentage decreased to 80%.

Fielded in January 2015 to 1,015 nationally representative Americans ages 18 and older by Kelton, the Makovsky Health survey investigated consumers’ behavior and preferences for engaging with online healthcare information. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

Meanwhile, a Prevention Magazine 2011 survey found that 49 percent of respondents who went online for prescription drug information reported seeking this information on a specific brand's Web site. As a consequence of this influence of the Internet, FDA is currently studying how consumers interact with drug.com websites (read this Pharma Marketing News article: Are Drug.com Websites "Fair and Balanced?").

Before commenting on the above results, let me summarize a few other “Pulse of Online Health” Survey results -- especially those related to mobile and wearable devices -- that may be of interest to you.

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