Friday, July 20, 2012

Protecting Patient Privacy Remains at the Forefront of Medical Mobile Apps

by Holly Shoemaker

Patient privacy continues to remain a top priority and focus of concern regarding medical mobile applications. As the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), other government agencies and a medical app store drafted guidelines pertaining to aspects of eHealth applications, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) has provided its own input regarding how to best protect data collection and has also released best practices for app developers.

Overview of Best Practices

The FPF stresses that developers should embed privacy measures throughout the development lifecycle. The guidelines also stress the importance of using clear and simple language to ensure all users understand how data is collected and shared. Along with that, the FPF discusses the importance of securing data and having someone accountable for ensuring privacy measures are followed.

Concluding Thoughts

As mentioned before, guidelines will help developers streamline the development lifecycle and provide consumers with information on how to best protect their information. The challenge comes in when integrating all the feedback gathered from all sources to ensure all parties get what they need from regulatory measures - no developer wants to prolong an already long lifecycle for medical applications.

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