As consumers are turning more and more to mobile devices for their healthcare needs, there is no shortage of wearable devices, apps and websites addressing everything from the common cold to serious medical conditions. With the surge in apps and health wearables like FitBit, FitNow, Foducate, Apple Watch, and MyFitnessPal, physicians are encouraging patients to use what is appropriate for their individual healthcare needs with the top apps focusing on preventative and healthy lifestyles. “Physicians call for greater collaboration for boosting mHealth technologies,” by Judy Mottl, addresses the use of mobile technology as applied to patient healthcare and the need to bring technology developers, patients and physicians together.

The increase of mHealth options has raised concerns surrounding the use of healthcare related apps. The top concerns are security and privacy of health data, and reliability of data collected and reported. Merging healthcare and technology to help meet the needs of patients is incumbent on developers creating software that allows for detailed information to be shared safely.

It is incumbent that app developers, physicians and patients work together to increase the assurance that data is evidenced-base, providing the best possible information.  The goal is to use mHealth technology to help lower medical costs and offer better care and health for patients.  J.C. Herz, a Wired commentator, expressed concerns that app developers are not embracing the potential of providing meaningful technology over the next-best-thing apps. Developers need to partner with physicians in the early stages of planning to get the information needed to offer the best possible product for consumers and not just another next-best-app or wearable that will fade into fad obscurity.

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