Guest posting by Andrew Ta
We live in an era of connected technology, in which the proliferation of smartphones and mobile apps has revolutionized everything from the morning routine to entire industries. Yet, medicine and healthcare, in least in the United States, sit monolithic, too massive and overregulated to sway with novel tech. Having yet not undergone the same transformation as other professions, the field is ripe for innovation, and Apple’s recently announced ResearchKit might offer a step towards that.
Announced at Apple’s March 9th media event, ResearchKit is an open-source framework for iPhone apps designed to help researchers gather data for medical studies. With permission from the user, the iPhone can share data from the Health app, as well as access the device’s other measurement instruments like the accelerometer or gyroscope. Participants would be able to tap on a screen to test for Parkinson’s disease, make a tone to detect vocal variations, or walk to measure their gait and balance. Partners, such as Massachusetts General Hospital and Stanford Medicine, have used the framework to develop apps for studies on asthma, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease.
The immediate benefits of ResearchKit are obvious; with the iPhone’s customer reach, researchers are able to gather data from millions of users. The Health app comes pre-installed According to the Pew Internet Project, as of January, 2014, 58% of Americans have a smartphone. One age group, 18-29, has a smartphone ownership rate of 83%. Another source estimates smartphone users at nearly a fourth of the world population, increasing to a third by 2017. Imagine a world where anyone with a smartphone can enroll in clinical studies and submit their biometric data with the tap of a screen, and at no extra momentary cost; the sheer reach potential warrants attention.
ResearchKit lowers the barrier of entry and increases the range of capabilities of sample collection, especially important for medical studies susceptible to low sample sizes and inconsistent data collection. By enabling both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of wide berths of the population, as well as by encouraging collection of control data, and with combination of all the gamification and instant gratification of smartphone apps, ResearchKit succinctly tackles numerous tough issues.
An open-source platform, anyone can use the framework to design their own apps. Combined with Apple’s relatively simple design guidelines and development tools, truly health literate mobile apps may not be that far away. With health literacy at only 12% according to the Institute of Medicine, such apps can help bridge the digital divide and pave the path for better care, better health, and lower cost, all the aims of such technology, according to Berwick.
The end user also shares in the benefits. With the possibility of increased engagement and case management tracking (via additional, third-party products for more specialized data collection), it’s another (likely, more fun) medium through which patients can be empowered through control and access to their data, previously left unrecorded.
Admits all the praise and possibilities, ResearchKit is not without its own issues, many of them shared with other novel technologies that previously attempted to breach the healthcare market. Privacy rights, data protection, and right to know are all such possible areas of infringement or overreach. Apple says the app allows users to customize exactly what data is shared, but just how much is lip service? With regards to study design, how limited is the data set? It would tend towards the rich, toward those who could afford iPhones, toward those who actively use their phones. However, these issues should merely inform, not delay or impede, progress and research of technologies such as ResearchKit, all in the hopes that these sorts of innovations and ideas can be encouraged and built upon in order to advance the human condition.
(Berwick, Nolan and Whittington; eMarketer; Jordan Broderick; Pew Reserach Center)
References
Berwick, D. M., T. W. Nolan, and J. Whittington. “The Triple Aim: Care, Health, and Cost.” Health Aff (Millwood) 27.3 (2008): 759-69. Print.
eMarketer. “Smartphone Users Worldwide Will Total 1.75 Billion in 2014.” (2014). <http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Smartphone-Users-Worldwide-Will-Total-175-Billion-2014/1010536>.
Jordan Broderick, Theresa Devine, Ellen Langhans, Andrew J. Lemerise, Silje Lier, Linda Harris. “Designing Health Literate Mobile Apps.” Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (2014). <http://www.iom.edu/Global/Perspectives/2014/HealthLiterateApps.aspx>.
Pew Reserach Center. “Mobile Technology Fact Sheet.” (2015). <http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/>.