title: Developing a Framework for Evaluating the Patient Engagement, Quality, and Safety of Mobile Health Applications.
abstract: Rising ownership of smartphones and tablets across social and demographic groups has made mobile applications, or apps, a potentially promising tool for engaging patients in their health care, particularly those with high health care needs. Through a systematic search of iOS (Apple) and Android app stores and an analysis of apps targeting individuals with chronic illnesses, we assessed the degree to which apps are likely to be useful in patient engagement efforts. Usefulness was determined based on the following criteria: description of engagement, relevance to the targeted patient population, consumer ratings and reviews, and most recent app update. Among the 1,046 health care-related, patient-facing applications identified by our search, 43 percent of iOS apps and 27 percent of Android apps appeared likely to be useful. We also developed criteria for evaluating the patient engagement, quality, and safety of mobile apps.
authors.affiliation: Department of Learning Health Sciences, University of Michigan Medical School. kdpsingh@umich.edu
authors.forename: Karandeep
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Kaitlin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Drouin
authors.forename: Lisa P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Newmark
authors.forename: Ronen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rozenblum
authors.forename: Jaeho
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Landman
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pabo
authors.forename: Elissa V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Klinger
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Bates
mesh_terms: D034201:Computers, Handheld; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D063731:Mobile Applications / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010358:Patient Participation; D011786:Quality Control; D012449:Safety; D000068997:Smartphone; D014481:United States