‘Healthcare standards have typically developed in response to the desire to promote positive patient practices, improve the quality of medical care and enhance reimbursement. For mHealth apps, certification requires the establishment of standards geared toward the promotion of best practices in functionality, operation, user interface, security, privacy and content. These standards can then be used by the mHealth industry to ensure that issues concerning app quality, safety, security and the like are addressed prior to the app entering the marketplace. This will be critical, as the impact of mHealth apps on clinical decision-making is likely to grow in the future. Physicians and healthcare organizations, who are naturally protective of what their patients engage in or not, may be more inclined to encourage the use of mHealth apps that have been vetted through a certification process. Simply put, certification creates confidence and can alter the way people buy and sell those mHealth applications. »

See on www.mhimss.org