Health 2.0: Do e-Health Tools Need Peer Review?

The e-health market is bloated with simple tools for patients—online weight trackers and apps that offer exercise and diet tips, for example. And there's no dearth of physician tools that aid decision support, diagnosis, or provide access to medical references. 

So where are the opportunities in e-health—those markets that aren't already flooded with products and crowded competitors? Some clear answers to that question are emerging at the fifth annual Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco this week.  

One opportunity has arisen precisely because there are so many similar eHealth tools from which to choose. The industry needs reliable, reputable sources in the public and private sectors to vet them or even professional associations that could certify them, Marco Smit, president of Health 2.0 Advisors said during a small-group discussion on Health 2.0 white spaces.

Browse the medical category in Apple's App Store and you'll quickly see why there's a need — there are a lot of applications listed, but many are unrated or have only a few contradictory reviews. You could scroll and click all day and still not have a good idea of whether or not an app is worthwhile.

"Curated content" could include peer and expert reviews of apps, for example, and clinical studies as to the efficacy of e-health tools.

With the healthcare industry's focus on cost-cutting, tools that help providers and hospitals reduce readmissions or improve workflow and efficiency, for example, are in high demand. In fact, cost-cutting tools are the biggest opportunity in eHealth right now, said Mark Smith, MD, president and CEO of the California Health Care Foundation at the conference's opening keynote address. It might sound obvious—after all, no one develops a product designed to raise costs or waste money, he said.

But developers don't always quantify their cost-cutting claims and they don't always do a good job making sure the entity that's investing in the technology is the beneficiary of the savings, he said.

Another clear message from speakers and attendees is that eHealth tools must be designed with patients in mind. And that goes for tools designed for physicians, as well. 

Enoch Choi, MD a physician who practices at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation wants technology to get out of his way. He wants tools that help him connect and communicate and build relationships with his patients—not ones that give the impression he's hiding behind a mobile device or computer screen, he said in a "Doctor's 2.0" panel discussion.

Too often a technology—even those that improve clinical quality—add so much to the physician's workflow that it hampers the physician-patient relationship, said Lyle Berkowitz, MD, director of the Szollosi Healthcare Innovation Program, who also spoke on the panel. 

Developers are looking for ways to use the vast and growing store of data in all kinds of tools for payers, providers, clinicians, and patients. For example, physician rating sites could go beyond written patient reviews and incorporate multiple data sources, such as quality and competency measures, to create a rigorous 360 degree physician review.

Another area where data creates opportunity is in the field of online patient communities. The 1.0 version allowed patients to interact with each other, blog about their experiences, and perhaps access to some content. The 2.0 version uses the patient's own healthcare data to create a rich, customized experience.

In order for any new product to succeed it must be easy for the end user. Healthcare is "so damn inconvenient" Smith said. To succeed, new products must make healthcare easier for patients to navigate the system.

That goes for clinical tools as well.

New products have to be revolutionary for docs to adopt, Choi said. "It has to fit into the workflow seamlessly and really help us connect with our patients and be useful."

One of the goals of the Health 2.0 organization is to connect healthcare organizations and health tech start-up companies in part through two contracts with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT under the Investing in Innovation program, including one that funds a developer challenge.

More than 100 companies are demonstrating new products at the Health 2.0 conference.