Is there an app for that?
February 10, 2014
When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its final guidance on mobile apps last fall, much of the mobile health industry sighed with relief. Although the agency made it clear that it will scrutinize apps that directly impact patient safety, it also reassured the industry that it would not stifle innovation. “In FDA’s final guidance, patient safety is king and innovation is queen,” says David Collins, Senior Director of mHIMMS, the mobile community of HIMSS.
The market is growing rapidly, and hospital executives are talking about how to fit mobile health into their budgets in an era of coordinated care. (For health care stakeholders looking for a practical guide, mHIMMS recently released a comprehensive mobile health apps roadmap.)
But while it may take some time for hospitals to evaluate and add mobile health companies to its vendor lists, clinicians can instantly take advantage of the innovations via smartphones and tablets. Below is a list (in no particular order) of some of the best health care apps of 2013 that can be downloaded in a snap.
Medical calculator
Calculate by QxMD
Several free medical calculator apps are available in the App Store, but Calculate by QxMD is most popular because of its sleek interface and quick access to several support tools. The app is used by clinicians in a variety of disciplines, including internal medicine, hematology, emergency medicine, oncology, and general surgery, to support clinical decision-making.
Calculate by QxMD provides access to 150 different calculators via a user-friendly interface. The app gets high praise from iMedicalApps, a leading online resource on mobile medical technology edited by clinicians.
Collaboration
Figure 1
Within two weeks of its launch in 2013, Figure 1 was the most downloaded free health care app in the country. Just two months later, it had tens of thousands of users. Often referred to as the Instagram for doctors, the app enables clinicians to share photos of medical conditions with colleagues all over the world. The app’s maker describes Figure 1 as a “crowd-sourced medical image library for health care professionals.”
Users can upload, view, comment on, and “like” images posted using the app, all while ensuring patient privacy. A number of safeguards are built into Figure 1, including automatic face-blocking on images and embedded privacy release forms.
To preserve the integrity of the app, Figure 1 maintains a verification process for licensed physicians and is working on adding such processes for other health care professionals.
QuantiaMD
If Figure 1 is the Instagram for clinicians, QuantiaMD is the Facebook. About 200,000 U.S. doctors are already using QuantiaMD, a social learning and networking platform for providers. The platform’s app offers a community where doctors can learn from experts and peers, connect with colleagues, and earn CME credits. Users can submit, view, and comment on presentations using their smartphone or tablet. And it’s on course to become an even bigger physician social network — in 2013, QuantiaMD raised $10 million to expand the platform’s reach.
Education
Read by QxMD
More and more clinicians are using Read by QxMD to stay up-to-date on the latest medical research. The app enables providers to easily access a number of medical publications and resources using a simple and intuitive interface.
Read by QxMD allows providers to personalize their medical research reading experience. Clinicians can browse through topic reviews, read their favorite medical journals, and access full text articles using their institutional subscriptions. Users can also share articles with colleagues via email and social media.
Reference
Epocrates Rx
Epocrates Rx is a free drug reference app that offers extensive information on brand, generic, and over-the-counter medications. Physicians can use the app to review drug prescribing and safety information for thousands of drugs and even look up approximate retail drug pricing for patients paying out-of-pocket. Epocrates Rx also offers information on drug interactions, enabling physicians to check for potentially harmful interactions for up to 30 drugs at a time.
The app was downloaded 50,000 times in the first week of its release, and was the number one most used iPad app by U.S. physicians in 2013, according to a report by the research company Manhattan Research.
NeuroMind
Ranked most highly among neurology and neurosurgery apps, NeuroMind is free and available for Android and iPhone users. The app serves as a single source of reference for neurosurgeons who are interested in getting an in-depth look into a specific brain region prior to surgery.
The app features high-resolution diagrams and offers clinical decision-making support for a variety of pathologies. Every aspect of each diagram can be zoomed in on to provide a more comprehensive view. The World Health Organization’s Safe Surgery checklist is also embedded into the app, making it easily available for reference before a procedure.
VisualDx
VisualDx is a leading web-based clinical decision support system that’s currently in use at more than 1,500 hospitals nationwide. The accompanying app brings thousands of medical images to the clinicians’ fingertips at the point-of-care.
The VisualDx app enables users to quickly look up a diagnosis and get a visual confirmation or to enter a patient’s symptoms for a list of possible diagnoses. The app is used in a number of departments including emergency medicine, pediatrics, dermatology, and dentistry.
However, VisualDx is not free — there is just a brief free trial period. Once the trial expires, users will need a subscription to the VisualDx web tool to continue using the app.
AHRQ ePSS
The Electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS) designed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) may not be the prettiest app out there but what it lacks in aesthetics it makes up for in utility.
The ePSS app was developed to help primary care physicians identify screening, counseling, and preventive medication services for patients. The app is based on the most current recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Physicians can enter specific patient characteristics, such as age, sex, and selected behavioral factors to review the latest recommendations at the point-of-care using a single source.
Patient communication
MediBabble
MediBabble is a free, professional-grade translation app that enables physicians to communicate with non-English speaking patients. The app includes an extensive database of clinical questions and patient instructions, all of which were written and vetted by a panel of physicians.
All of the responses sought by the app from the patient are either yes/no questions, require gestural responses (such as pointing), or rely on the device for input (such as typing in the date of birth). MediBabble is currently available in five languages – Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Russian, and Haitian Creole.
According to the team at iMedicalApps, MediBabble is “the best medical translation app available in the App Store, paid or free.”
HeartDecide
Having trouble explaining an aortic regurgitation to a patient? Many doctors are using HeartDecide as a visual learning tool to aid in patient education. The app offers a 3-D model of a beating heart that can be rotated in all directions and divided into sections to help guide conversations with patients.
HeartDecide allows users to input patient- specific information to demonstrate how the heart responds to basic health decisions, which can be helpful in motivating patients to make better lifestyle choices. The app also displays what different heart procedures look like, such as a percutaneous valve replacement or an annuloplasty.
The market is growing rapidly, and hospital executives are talking about how to fit mobile health into their budgets in an era of coordinated care. (For health care stakeholders looking for a practical guide, mHIMMS recently released a comprehensive mobile health apps roadmap.)
But while it may take some time for hospitals to evaluate and add mobile health companies to its vendor lists, clinicians can instantly take advantage of the innovations via smartphones and tablets. Below is a list (in no particular order) of some of the best health care apps of 2013 that can be downloaded in a snap.
Medical calculator
Calculate by QxMD
Several free medical calculator apps are available in the App Store, but Calculate by QxMD is most popular because of its sleek interface and quick access to several support tools. The app is used by clinicians in a variety of disciplines, including internal medicine, hematology, emergency medicine, oncology, and general surgery, to support clinical decision-making.
Calculate by QxMD provides access to 150 different calculators via a user-friendly interface. The app gets high praise from iMedicalApps, a leading online resource on mobile medical technology edited by clinicians.
Collaboration
Figure 1
Within two weeks of its launch in 2013, Figure 1 was the most downloaded free health care app in the country. Just two months later, it had tens of thousands of users. Often referred to as the Instagram for doctors, the app enables clinicians to share photos of medical conditions with colleagues all over the world. The app’s maker describes Figure 1 as a “crowd-sourced medical image library for health care professionals.”
Users can upload, view, comment on, and “like” images posted using the app, all while ensuring patient privacy. A number of safeguards are built into Figure 1, including automatic face-blocking on images and embedded privacy release forms.
To preserve the integrity of the app, Figure 1 maintains a verification process for licensed physicians and is working on adding such processes for other health care professionals.
QuantiaMD
If Figure 1 is the Instagram for clinicians, QuantiaMD is the Facebook. About 200,000 U.S. doctors are already using QuantiaMD, a social learning and networking platform for providers. The platform’s app offers a community where doctors can learn from experts and peers, connect with colleagues, and earn CME credits. Users can submit, view, and comment on presentations using their smartphone or tablet. And it’s on course to become an even bigger physician social network — in 2013, QuantiaMD raised $10 million to expand the platform’s reach.
Education
Read by QxMD
More and more clinicians are using Read by QxMD to stay up-to-date on the latest medical research. The app enables providers to easily access a number of medical publications and resources using a simple and intuitive interface.
Read by QxMD allows providers to personalize their medical research reading experience. Clinicians can browse through topic reviews, read their favorite medical journals, and access full text articles using their institutional subscriptions. Users can also share articles with colleagues via email and social media.
Reference
Epocrates Rx
Epocrates Rx is a free drug reference app that offers extensive information on brand, generic, and over-the-counter medications. Physicians can use the app to review drug prescribing and safety information for thousands of drugs and even look up approximate retail drug pricing for patients paying out-of-pocket. Epocrates Rx also offers information on drug interactions, enabling physicians to check for potentially harmful interactions for up to 30 drugs at a time.
The app was downloaded 50,000 times in the first week of its release, and was the number one most used iPad app by U.S. physicians in 2013, according to a report by the research company Manhattan Research.
NeuroMind
Ranked most highly among neurology and neurosurgery apps, NeuroMind is free and available for Android and iPhone users. The app serves as a single source of reference for neurosurgeons who are interested in getting an in-depth look into a specific brain region prior to surgery.
The app features high-resolution diagrams and offers clinical decision-making support for a variety of pathologies. Every aspect of each diagram can be zoomed in on to provide a more comprehensive view. The World Health Organization’s Safe Surgery checklist is also embedded into the app, making it easily available for reference before a procedure.
VisualDx
VisualDx is a leading web-based clinical decision support system that’s currently in use at more than 1,500 hospitals nationwide. The accompanying app brings thousands of medical images to the clinicians’ fingertips at the point-of-care.
The VisualDx app enables users to quickly look up a diagnosis and get a visual confirmation or to enter a patient’s symptoms for a list of possible diagnoses. The app is used in a number of departments including emergency medicine, pediatrics, dermatology, and dentistry.
However, VisualDx is not free — there is just a brief free trial period. Once the trial expires, users will need a subscription to the VisualDx web tool to continue using the app.
AHRQ ePSS
The Electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS) designed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) may not be the prettiest app out there but what it lacks in aesthetics it makes up for in utility.
The ePSS app was developed to help primary care physicians identify screening, counseling, and preventive medication services for patients. The app is based on the most current recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Physicians can enter specific patient characteristics, such as age, sex, and selected behavioral factors to review the latest recommendations at the point-of-care using a single source.
Patient communication
MediBabble
MediBabble is a free, professional-grade translation app that enables physicians to communicate with non-English speaking patients. The app includes an extensive database of clinical questions and patient instructions, all of which were written and vetted by a panel of physicians.
All of the responses sought by the app from the patient are either yes/no questions, require gestural responses (such as pointing), or rely on the device for input (such as typing in the date of birth). MediBabble is currently available in five languages – Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Russian, and Haitian Creole.
According to the team at iMedicalApps, MediBabble is “the best medical translation app available in the App Store, paid or free.”
HeartDecide
Having trouble explaining an aortic regurgitation to a patient? Many doctors are using HeartDecide as a visual learning tool to aid in patient education. The app offers a 3-D model of a beating heart that can be rotated in all directions and divided into sections to help guide conversations with patients.
HeartDecide allows users to input patient- specific information to demonstrate how the heart responds to basic health decisions, which can be helpful in motivating patients to make better lifestyle choices. The app also displays what different heart procedures look like, such as a percutaneous valve replacement or an annuloplasty.