The Office of the National Coordinator for Health
Information, part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, recently
announced a new
app challenge that focuses on patient safety and reporting.
The challenge came about from a 2011
report that asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to evaluate health and
safety privacy concerns. The IOM concluded that accurate reporting of data depends
on a number of factors such as the users, doctors, vendors and any other
entity involved in reporting. The IOM recommended increased monitoring of IT health products
and clearer reporting guidelines.
Concluding Thoughts
Reporting and privacy concerns continue to remain an issue
as hospitals and doctors' offices transition from paper-based records to
electronic ones. No standard format or platform exits to report patient
information.
As I have mentioned before, app challenges offer ways for
developers to get their ideas known. However, when it comes to medical apps,
a more stringent development and testing process is typically needed,
especially when dealing with privacy concerns. While the contest addresses a need, the reward may not be worth the cost to develop, test and market. Therefore, the developer who wins the contest will likely have a long lifecyle before the app goes live.
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