The French health authority (Haute Autorité de Santé) has just published a guide to good practice. For what purpose?
P. T. - The number of health apps is growing at a dizzying pace. Yet there is still no system in place to assess their reliability. This best practice guide is designed to pave the way for developers and professionals alike.
and patient associations. Visit
all with a view to boosting the market as a whole. We're at the beginning of a process of clarification, which should lead to the recommendation of apps that are more attractive to consumers.
within the next two years.
What are the risks associated with these health apps?
P. T. - I see three main issues: cyber security, data protection and the reliability of the medical content. For a user with no medical knowledge, this reliability is difficult to analyse. It's important to filter the AppStore and Google Store. There are grey areas regarding the safety of certain solutions. For example, activity trackers may estimate that you haven't run enough, when in fact you have, creating a risk of overtraining. Or blood pressure monitors that give an approximate assessment of blood pressure. Patients are completely autonomous, isolated from their medical environment. I would advise users to read the terms and conditions of applications carefully, and to look at who is funding the solution to see if there is a hidden purpose, such as collecting information about their behaviour or using geolocation to direct them to a particular healthcare professional, or even to direct them to one shop rather than another.
How do you see the future?
P. T. - We're at the beginning of a new digital era. We're moving towards a second generation of solutions, more precise and better adapted, which should appear by 2020. Over and above the questions we're currently asking, we can expect to see real benefits from connected healthcare, particularly in terms of improved compliance with treatment and better prevention. Which means less curative expenditure. At the same time, these solutions collect a wealth of patient data that is extremely important for academic research.
Also in this dossier: Advice: Guillaume Marchand, co-founder of DMD Santé
