{"id":13372,"date":"2020-01-07T09:05:03","date_gmt":"2020-01-07T14:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=13372"},"modified":"2020-01-07T09:05:03","modified_gmt":"2020-01-07T14:05:03","slug":"a-scorecard-for-medical-apps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/a-scorecard-for-medical-apps\/","title":{"rendered":"A Scorecard for Medical Apps"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Digital\n

“Doctor, what app do you recommend for my condition?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDoctor, what do you think about this new technology?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

I receive questions like these almost every week in my clinic, and I unfortunately don\u2019t have great answers to give my patients. <\/span><\/p>\n

While some digital technologies, such as mobile applications and wearables, are commonplace in the broader world around us, their directed use in health care is less established. The reason is simple: There is generally very poor evidence (if any) that supports the use of these technologies, particularly when compared to traditional treatment strategies, such as drugs and devices. <\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, in clinical practice, I most often advise patients against using newer health technologies explicitly as part of their treatment or care plan. The \u201cfail fast, fail often\u201d mantra of the technology startup world does not fit well with the \u201cfirst, do <\/span>no harm\u201d ethos of the medical profession. This difference in culture, combined with <\/span>a still-evolving regulatory landscape, has resulted in a proliferation of digital technologies. Today, there are more than 300,000 health care mobile applications currently available\u2014with nearly 200 more being added every day. With a majority of these solutions marketed directly to patients, it is no wonder that patients come to clinic with questions. <\/span><\/p>\n

To help find better answers, I have partnered with engineers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory<\/a> and faculty members at the Bloomberg School of Public Health<\/a> to redesign the way health technology is fundamentally understood. We established a framework for more objective, comprehensive, transparent, and standards-based assessments of health technology to ensure that all stakeholders in medicine (patients and families, physicians, payers) have an easier way to know where quality resides. <\/span><\/p>\n

Our approach is to create a \u201cdigital health scorecard\u201d\u2014combining elements of evaluation similar to those found at Underwriters Laboratories and Consumer Reports, nonprofit testing laboratories that evaluate products for safety and quality. <\/span><\/p>\n

The scorecard makes it clear how a particular solution performs based on <\/span>four domains. Clinical validation refers to understanding what evidence exists to show how a solution impacts a health outcome. Technical validation compares a solution\u2019s performance against an existing gold standard and also assesses for basic qualities of security, privacy, and interoperability. Usability assesses how well a solution functions in the hands of a user across standard parameters, such as navigation and ease of use. Cost reflects not only the price but also the total cost of ownership, including installation, maintenance, and, where available, an estimation of potential savings.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, we are asking an even more basic question: Does the technology do what the intended end user (patient) wants it to do? In all of these areas, the methodology <\/span>by which the technology is assessed is transparent, as is the scoring. As a result, anyone viewing the scorecard will know exactly why a solution performed as well or <\/span>as poorly as it did. <\/span><\/p>\n

We are actively piloting this approach with industry research funding in the field of mobile applications for cancer. As part of this effort, we have conducted design sessions with patients, families, and all levels of providers (nurses, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, physicians) to specifically understand their needs. We are also collaborating with the Johns Hopkins Technology Innovation Center to help conduct the actual testing of these solutions. <\/span><\/p>\n

Our hope is that with the digital health scorecard, patients and physicians can <\/span>more easily sift through the clutter of health technology to identify the solutions that have meaningful clinical benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Simon C. Mathews<\/a> is head of clinical innovation at the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality<\/a> and a faculty member in the Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare<\/a>. This column originally appeared in the fall 2019 issue of Hopkins Medicine magazine<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s needed to \u201csift through the clutter\u201d of health technologies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[187,269,4897,4902,4907],"class_list":["post-13372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-back-talk","tag-johns-hopkins-university-applied-physics-laboratory","tag-malone-center-for-engineering-in-healthcare","tag-armstrong-institute-for-patient-safety-and-quality","tag-digital-health-scorecard","tag-simon-c-mathews","issue-winter-2020"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Scorecard for Medical Apps - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/a-scorecard-for-medical-apps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Scorecard for Medical Apps - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What\u2019s needed to \u201csift through the clutter\u201d of health technologies.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2020\/01\/a-scorecard-for-medical-apps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-07T14:05:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/hbarczyk_JHopkins_spot1_revised_colorized-THUMB.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abby Lattes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/a-scorecard-for-medical-apps\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/a-scorecard-for-medical-apps\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abby Lattes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0244393be370fbc3ead8ec26062e9742\"},\"headline\":\"A Scorecard for Medical Apps\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-07T14:05:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/a-scorecard-for-medical-apps\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":622,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/a-scorecard-for-medical-apps\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/hbarczyk_JHopkins_spot1_revised_colorized-THUMB.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory\",\"Malone Center for Engineering In Healthcare\",\"Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality\",\"Digital Health Scorecard\",\"Simon C. 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