What You Need to Know About Online Medical Apps for Personal Health

1. Dr. Shazia Iqbal
Assistant Professor
Director of Medical Education Unit
Faculty of Medicine
Alfarabi College of Medicine, Riyadh
siqbal@alfarabi.edu.sa
View my Linkedin Profile
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4890-5864
Health web sites and different
health apps

2. Objectives
1-Definition
2- What You Need to Know About Online Medical Apps for Personal
Health
3-Security and Privacy Issues Related to the Use of Mobile Health
Apps
4-Privacy guidelines for health apps

3. Everyone is living in a mobile world, even healthcare
workers. That’s why we rounded up the top medical
apps for doctors.

4. • Medical apps, as defined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,
are software on a mobile device that function as an accessory to a
regulated medical device or transform a mobile platform into a
regulated medical device. In other words: These apps can help
patients manage their own health and help healthcare practitioners
facilitate and improve patient care

5. What You Need to Know About Online
Medical Apps for Personal Health?
• It’s important to understand the difference between the phrases “telehealth” and
“telemedicine.” They are often used interchangeably, but they actually mean slightly
different things. Telemedicine refers specifically to clinical services provided remotely, while
telehealth includes the use of telecommunications for clinical and non-clinical purposes, like
education and administration.
• It’s important to remember that personal health apps should be used to supplement the
medical care and advice you receive from a primary care physician, not replace it.
• If you are using a personal health app to keep track of your medical records, prescriptions,
and billing information, it’s important to make sure that it is Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant and secure. This is sensitive information that should not
be accessible by anyone except you and your healthcare providers.

6. The Best Online Medical Apps that Make
Personal Health Easier:
• Epocrates : is the single medical reference app that supports your
clinical decisions in multiple ways, multiple times a day.
• Doctor On Demand: Doctor on Demand is a telemedicine service that
provides care on-demand and by appointment, various physical and
mental health issues.
• Teladoc: Teladoc is an on-demand telehealth service that connects
patients with virtual care for non-life-threatening illnesses and
injuries.
• Amwell: Amwell, an online medical service that offers on-demand
doctor visits via their mobile or website.

7. • Talkspace: Talkspace is an online therapy platform that gives users
access to licensed therapists and psychiatrists from any location,
through their mobile app.
• ZocDoc: With the ZocDoc app, users can easily connect with a variety
of healthcare providers, and schedule appointments instantly online
without being put on hold or waiting weeks for an appointment.

8. • Medisafe: Those who need help remembering to take their
prescriptions can use the Medisafe app to turn their smartphone into
a “virtual pillbox” that sends notification reminders to take
medications.
• CareZone: The CareZone app helps users manage their prescriptions
by creating medication lists, setting reminders to take medications,
and ordering refills for home delivery as needed.

9. • First Derm: First Derm, a free app for Android and iOS, allows users to
consult an online dermatologist on-demand, for convenient answers,
treatment plans, and prescriptions for non-emergency skin
conditions.
• Maven: Through their iOS and Android app, Maven seeks to offer an
alternative “digital clinic” that is specifically designed to meet the
physical and mental healthcare needs of women and families.

10. • Fitbit: Whether users have a Fitbit device or rely on their mobile app,
this platform lets users monitor many aspects of health and wellness,
including activity, workouts, heart rate, and calories.
• GoodRx: Consumers can use the GoodRx app to search for
prescription medications at more than 75,000 pharmacies to help
them find the lowest prices for their medicine in their area.

11. Epocrates

12. Doctor on Demand

13. Talkspace

14. ZocDoc

15. CareZone

16. • Security and Privacy Issues Related to the Use of Mobile Health Apps
• mHealth may pose significant risks to the privacy and security of
consumers’ protected health information. Sensitive data gathered by
mobile health apps may be accessible to the patient, physicians,
family members or scientific researchers but may also be shared with
third parties, such as advertisers

17. Privacy guidelines for health apps
What is health data ?
Data that is clearly or
inherently medical
data
Raw data that the app has
obtained from sensors,
which is processed by the
app and can be used
independently or
combined with other data
Where conclusions can
be drawn about the
user's health status or
health risks based on
information gathered by
the app
If the data being processed by your app falls under one of
these 3 categories, you're processing health data.

18. Here's a checklist to help you determine whether your website
or mobile app collects health data:
• 1-Express consent must be obtained unless the data is being
processed in a strict medical context. This consent must be explicit.
• 2-You will always need to get an explicit consent when your health or
wellbeing website/app processes the location of the user, e.g. asks
the user for the current location.
• 3-Clear and accessible information regarding what type of data you
collect (both personal data and health data) must always be provided
to users before they install the app.

19. • 4-The following must be disclosed to users:
• If their data will be protected by medical secrecy.
• If their data will be collated with other data collected from other sources or
data already stored on the device.
• The reasons why the data will be processed and who it will be disclosed to
should be made clear to the user.These reasons must be compatible and
legitimate.
• If the above is not disclosed to the user, their consent can be deemed to be
invalid.

20. • 5-Definitions that you use in your Privacy Policy must be clear.
• 6-Implement proper anonymization techniques and other risk
reducing measures: privacy by design and data minimization.

21. Reffrences
• https://blog.capterra.com/top-7-medical-apps-for-doctors/
• https://www.onlinedoctor.com/15-best-online-medical-apps-that-
make-personal-health-easier/
• https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10292/8117/acis
20140_submission_12.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
• https://www.termsfeed.com/blog/privacy-guidelines-health-apps/

22. •Thank you