The Future Is Bright for Mobile Healthcare Apps
Congressional hearings on mobile healthcare application regulation suggest the future is bright for this technology, says mHIMSS executives Tom Martin and David Collins.
The hearings, held March 19-21, considered the importance of allowing innovation to flourish vs. the importance of regulation for patient safety.
Discussed in the hearings were the dangers of strict FDA oversight and the potential threat of Obamacare taxes on apps—concerns that were dismissed by most witnesses. According to Martin and Collins, while a few developers are waiting on the FDA’s final medical app guidance before submitting apps to the market, many developers are bringing innovative products to market, and venture funding for healthcare startups is at an all time high.
Moreover, although a very small segment of the app marketplace could be subject to the excise tax on medical devices, most app categories would not, say Martin and Collins. This likely gives app developers the confidence to bring new apps to the market, and that could lead to an explosion of mobile healthcare technology that complements today's electronic medical record and practice management solutions.
