Healthcare App Data Sharing – Do’s and Don’ts

healthcare app

healthcare appBy: Steven Boyne

I recently wrote an article titled The Top Five Legal Concerns When Developing a Healthcare App, and I received some follow up questions, including technical queries about encryption and data sharing.  To answer these questions, it is important to understand the current Healthcare App state of affairs.  Various reporters, governmental agencies and privacy watchdogs have installed and monitored the flow of data from Healthcare Apps installed on smart phones.  These journals, articles and enforcement actions taken together provide a roadmap for Do’s and Don’ts for the sharing of data.

Almost all Healthcare Apps are free and have some disclosures about how they share your data, and both iOS and Android require the user to give permission to the newly installed App, but who really pays attention to that?  Almost no one.  However, this doesn’t mean that an App developer shouldn’t embrace best practices to avoid liability and bad press.Continue reading

The Top 5 Legal Concerns When Developing a Healthcare App

creating a healthcare app

creating a healthcare appBy: Steven Boyne

Today no one can live without a smart phone, and we interact with the rest of the world through a series of apps that reside on our handheld devices.  From the healthcare perspective many large healthcare institutions and private companies have developed a myriad of healthcare related apps that currently reside in Apple’s App Store and  Googles Play Store.  You can measure your heart rate, get clinical advice, view your records, check on your health insurance coverage, make appointments and virtually interact with many different types of healthcare providers.  But even in today’s hyper-electronic society it took COVID-19 to really cause an explosion in telehealth, so what does that tell us?  There is a lot more room for expanding electronic interactions with patients and clients through Apps.  So, here are the top five legal concerns should you address when you develop a Healthcare App:Continue reading