Physicians Split On Prescribing Apps

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Poll reveals physicians divided on app use, regulation

The results were mixed according to a recent poll conducted by QuantiaMD designed to learn physicians’ opinions on prescribing apps. While 37 percent of physicians said they had prescribed an app to a patient before, 42 percent said they won’t prescribe apps because of a lack of regulation.

The practice of prescribing apps has become increasingly popular due to the fact patient adherence levels are greater when paired with a mobile phone app they can access at all times. Yet many physicians are not sold on the idea with 37 percent of those polled telling QuantiaMD they don’t even know what apps are out there. Additionally, 21 percent never prescribe apps to their patients and an identical amount replied they don’t prescribe apps because of a lack of longitudinal data on their effectiveness. Two of 10 say prescribing apps would cause an overwhelming amount of patient data.

Despite the fact that the FDA released its final app guidelines in September, nearly half of physicians polled said there is not enough regulation over medical mobile apps. This may have something to do with the results of studies like the one done by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics which found of the more than 40,000 apps listed as health and wellness, about half were categorized as “fashion, game, and beauty.” In this particular study, only 54 percent of the apps studied were determined to actually be health related.

“When a prescription drug goes generic, it has at least seven years of data about its effectiveness and safety, which gives physicians assurance that patients can use it for self-care,”  said Mike Paskavitz, editor-in-chief of Quantia. “Medical apps have no history of either effectiveness or safety. So as hundreds of medical app developers gather in Orlando for HIMSS, it’s important to note that physicians are still split in opinion on whether they should ‘prescribe’ medical apps to their patients—the main reason being the lack of regulation, especially as the movement to enable self care is advanced through tools such as medical apps.”