I’ve written before about how technology is working hard to make managing your health an easier task – from glucose monitoring systems built into your smart phone to medication bottles that can text you when you forget to take a pill- but do you embrace these changes or give it a wary eye?
In the United States regulators are still concerned with the implicationsof using your smart phone or other non-traditional health devices to help monitor your health. The FDA is still working to define what mobile applications and devices fall under their purview and what devices are safe enough to skip being regulated. The FDA hopes to oversee apps and devices that are used as an accessory to FDA-regulated devices (such as an app that allows a doctor to view your x-ray or CAT scan on their tablet to diagnose you), and apps that transform a mobile platform into a medical device (such as an app that allows you to monitor your heart rate like an EKG machine.) You can read more about the FDA’s regulation of mobile medical applications here.
Will the rest of the globe follow suit? That remains to be seen, but the European Commission did release an app for smartphones that explains how to use a European Health Insurance Card – perhaps signaling their readiness to embrace smartphone technology as part of the solution to health problems.
Would you use a mobile medical application to help monitor your health, or do you prefer a more traditional approach?