Prescribing mobile apps

New program advances opportunities for telehealth

Recently we have discussed the rise of mHealth and regulation of medical mobile apps through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its Office of Mobile Health. Now, mobile health application store, Happtique, is in the middle of launching an MRx program that will allow healthcare providers to prescribe apps to their patients.

MRx will allow hospitals and physicians to send medical apps directly to a patient’s smartphone or tablet if they have an Android or HTML5 device, or though an email directing them to download the app from the Apple App Store if they have an iOS device.

“If smartphone-based systems can reduce the amount of other medical care that patients need, the potential benefit to the health care system would be enormous; the total cost of treating diabetes alone in 2007 was $174 billion, according to the most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” said Joshua Brustein of the NY Times.

Happtique plans to certify all apps available through MRx so patients and physicians know they are reliable and secure. They will have all developers submit their apps, which will then be judged by physicians in relevant specialties for their certification.

In addition to the program, Happtique has been lobbying federal regulators to allow patients to use flexible spending accounts to buy prescribed apps through its system.

Considering everyone has very busy schedules, but they always have their phones, telehealth and consultation through mobile apps could very well be the future of healthcare. Would your hospital or physician group use MRx for its patients if this system is approved? Do you think prescribing apps would help to keep patients healthier between visits and eliminate minor appointments?