Medical Devices and Applications

At the time of writing, there are probably around 500,000 medical "apps" (i.e., software tools) on the 'market' (in quotes, since some may be free, albeit nothing is really free). Some are designed to be used by patients, others by clinicians. This article assesses the regulatory environment and evidence on their safety w.r.t. privacy and data integrity. While current regulations seem to be enough to ensure data integrity at the healthcare provider level, the weak link seems to be in third party apps that allow patients to interact with the providers data.