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Not Just a Fad – Anymore
By Jennifer Tomasik, Carey Huntington and Fabian Poliak
Health Information Technology [HIT] may have arrived slowly into clinics and insurance companies, but the pace of innovation and adoption in consumer electronics today is astounding (and accelerating).
Devices are quickly penetrating every facet of our lives in the form of laptops, smartphones, tablets, and beyond. Thousands of health and wellness websites and software applications (“apps”) already exist, and we believe their role in healthcare will be increasingly a central one. Some are crucial elements of health organizations’ programming, such as the online platform that ShapeUp is built on: www.ShapeUp.com
Are they Effective?
Many are stand-alone tools without an organization or programming per se—i.e. apps for counting calories, monitoring glucose levels, or tracking sleep. But are websites and applications effective means of engaging individuals in their own health? And if so, what separates the good ones from the bad ones?
The Data
A 2009 meta-analysis of web-based smoking cessation programs found the pooled quit rate for participants to be 14.8% after follow-up conducted three months out, and 11.7% after six months out. [i] These figures are an improvement over the rate of people attempting to quit without any help or resources, as previously cited.
Internal Studies
From our own study of health websites and applications, we are beginning to see that high-quality digital resources share many of the same characteristics as great products and services do in the physical world. They create pull by engaging users via explicit reward structures. They enable teamwork and foster social accountability. Their content is interactive, informative, and often individualized. Their use is intuitive, convenient (e.g. accessible by web on a laptop or tablet and by smartphone “mobile apps”), and even effortless to the user (e.g. automatically collecting, synchronizing, and analyzing information).
Fragmentation
The fragmented world of websites and applications is not without its problems.
In today’s “app market,” the void that many websites and applications fill is not necessarily in the best interest of “health consumers,” and the quality of their products or services is often questionable. We see such issues as a reality of any market in its early stages.
Assessment
However, we are optimistic that greater consultation with medical professionals, greater investment and competition among health organizations, and improved regulation can help this new market mature into an indispensable virtual ecosystem of resources for health-seeking individuals.
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Conclusion
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[i] Myung SK, McDonnell DD, Kazinets G, Seo HG, Moskowitz JM. “Effects of Web- and computer-based smoking cessation programs: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.” Arch Intern Med 2009;169(10):929-37.
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Filed under: Information Technology | Tagged: health information technology, HIT, Jennifer Tomasik, On Health “Apps”, On Health Websites, www.CFAR.com | 6 Comments »
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