OhioHealth of Columbus has become the latest hospital to release its own smartphone application, recently rolling out a women’s health app that aims to connect patients with their obstetric and gynecological caregivers.
The Duet Health app provides expectant mothers with text, images and videos about all aspects of their pregnancies, from appointment reminders to screening test explanations, according to a statement from OhioHealth.
The app was created by Columbus-based mobile health developer eProximiti and is available as a free download from the iTunes store or the Android Marketplace.
About 60 patients began testing the app in March. OhioHealth expects to roll it out to all obstetric patients this month.
“This is something that empowers patients to be more informed when they arrive for their office visits,” said Dr. Andrew Bokor, one of the first physicians to offer the application to his patients. “I don’t think there is any way it won’t improve the quality of women’s healthcare and outcomes.”
Due to the early positive response to the women’s health app, OhioHealth is planning to offer applications for orthopedics, sports medicine and other specialties, according to the statement.
Last month, Akron Children’s Hospital launched its first mobile app, Care4Kids. The free app allows parents to store their family’s medical history, including insurance and provider information, plus medications, allergies and emergency contacts. In addition to storing medical records, the app features educational articles and videos, a tool to request appointments with physicians and general information about the hospital.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
As more people buy smartphones and the mobile Internet overtakes the World Wide Web, it’s all but inevitable that more and more hospitals will release their own apps as a means of connecting with patients. Many of the apps simply help patients compile their own medical records and also provide hospital information like phone numbers and driving directions, such as apps released last year by two Michigan hospitals, FierceHealthcare reported.
