The ante has been upped in the mobile medical app regulation debate. Recently, a large group of patient and provider associations along with IT companies and payors petitioned the Obama administration not to rush into regulation, urging caution.
Three days later, a separate coalition comprised mainly of device manufacturers, app developers, and mobile companies petitioned the government to do exactly the opposite, asking the FDA to provide final guidance on app regulation immediately.
Though patient safety is important to both sides, big businesses on each side of the debate are also incentivized by other factors. Melissa McCormack, managing editor of The Profitable Practice, a blog for healthcare providers, recently alerted me to a new report examining the motives of each coalition. Compiled and analyzed by Software Advice, a company that helps medical software buyers evaluate products, the report makes for some interesting...and possibly disturbing...reading.
The report publishers are also running a poll on the topic, and they’d like your opinion.
Take the poll and view the results here: Should the FDA regulate mobile medical apps?
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