The Evolving Landscape Of Medical Apps In Healthcare

Jasmine Pennic | HIT Consultant | June 23, 2014

Mitchell Posada, VP of Marketing at Pathfinder Software discusses the evolving landscape of medical apps in healthcare.

Handheld medical apps are changing the healthcare landscape. While medical devices with embedded software have been around for over two decades, the advent of smartphones with touch screens, smart Bluetooth technologies and internet connectivity has brought about a tsunami of apps designed for every purpose, from monitoring body temperature to measuring heart rate. Today’s medical apps are becoming increasingly smarter, multi-functional and user-friendly.

In the past, healthcare and life science companies concentrated on manufacturing medical equipment and devices for hospitals and doctors. Now, they are switching to mobile apps more and more as their mainstream offering. The majority of these apps are intended for direct use by consumers and patients rather than doctors and caregivers. This has brought about a paradigm shift in people’s perception of healthcare by making healthcare more accessible to patients.

Because mobile apps are so easily made and so widely distributed, they are no longer a novelty. Any group of people with sufficient knowledge of medical diseases/conditions and software development, can create an app and distribute it over the internet. Users can order a medical device from online vendors, download the software on their smartphone and use it to monitor their own health...