We once cautioned against relying on "Dr. Google" for your health concerns. Now it seems we also have to stay on top of "Dr. App Store" as well. Of course, that's to be expected--our lives are increasingly centered on mobile devices, and there are hundreds of thousands of apps out there in every subject area and with varying degrees of legitimacy.
For the health-conscious, in particular, there is an app for tracking symptoms of chronic illness and an app for asking anonymous, embarrassing health questions. There's even an app that replaces a trip to the doctor's office with a short video conference. "Mobile apps are definitely changing medicine and the way doctors interact with patients," says mobile medicine advocate Jordan Safirstein, M.D., director of transradial intervention at Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey. "Doctors are always early adopters. Right now it depends on patient participation."
In other words, it's up to you to help change medicine to be more affordable, quick, and convenient. Here are some key apps that our experts say will grease the skids--and keep you healthy.
Talk to Docs and HealthTap
HealthTap (free, iOS and Android; healthtap.com) is set up like a social network, though it's a bit more private. It does have a profile, news feed, and the ability to "find friends," however. At its core, HealthTap is a question app--tap "Ask Doctors" from the main screen, type in a question, and send it to the app. One of HealthTap's doctors will answer your question in a relatively short period of time (it took me about a day to get an answer), and you can speed up the process with a $0.99 donation.
The main drawback of HealthTap is that it's not completely anonymous--the app does ask for personal information and it creates a profile that logs your activity and questions asked. But sometimes anonymity is necessary, says Dr. Safirstein. "It makes it a lot easier for people to ask embarrassing questions."
Talk to Docs ($0.99, iOS and Android; healthtap.com) is different--it's completely anonymous. It's also simpler, quicker, and less personal. Tap the app to ask your question (you can say it or type it), and then tap search to find an answer. Talk to Docs picks out key words from the question and performs a search of HealthTap's already-answered questions database. The app then chooses the most relevant answers and spits them back at you in a scrollable list.
Neither HealthTap nor Talk to Docs is a replacement for an individual consultation and diagnosis, Dr. Safirstein notes. Think Yahoo Answers, but with licensed physicians instead of random Internet commenters.
Doctor on Demand
Doctor on Demand (free, iOS and Android; doctorondemand.com) is a new app that will bring the doctor to you--on your phone, that is. Just type in a few symptoms and upload a few pictures (if you like), and you'll be connected to a real, licensed physician who will diagnose you over a video conference. The service isn't free--each 15-minute consultation costs $40--but it is the real deal. Doctor on Demand doctors can prescribe light medication (antibiotics and short-term refills for chronic conditions) and give referrals.
"Doctor on Demand is not designed to replace your primary physician," says Pat Basu, M.D., former White House Fellow and chief medical officer of Doctor on Demand. It can, however, replace those hefty out-of-pocket Urgent Care bills, since the network's doctors can diagnose and treat skin conditions, sports injuries, and any non-urgent general medical issues. The service places a premium on speed and convenience, so you shouldn't have to wait too lo ng to be connected to one of the company's 1,000-plus physicians. After each call, you'll receive your doctor's notes, a prescription (called into a nearby pharmacy) or referral, and the option of "favoriting" that doctor in case you need to follow-up.
Because the app is new, it does have limits. At launch, it's only available in 15 states (including New York, California, and Ohio), and only between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. The app will work with only some insurance policies (namely those with flexible spending accounts), which is why it's priced relatively low compared to most co-pays. Doctors do not currently prescribe lab work, though they can recommend it. However, these issues will be addressed soon, says Adam Jackson, co-founder and CEO of Doctor on Demand. The app will be available in 40 states by the end of the year, and accessible 24 hours a day shortly after that.
Privacy, of course, is a concern. But Doctor on Demand is HIPAA-compliant, which means it adhe res to the same security and privacy standards as do other medical practices. As for whether the app will prove useful, Dr. Safirstein believes it will. "If the patient is having an ongoing issue, face-to-face consultative practice is still the gold standard," he says. "But there's no doubt that we will increasingly use telemedicine apps like this in the future, as it allows us to stay in closer contact with patients and yet not have to see them in the office."
Symple
There are lots of tracking apps out there, but Symple is a little different. Instead of tracking a specific health statistic, Symple (free, iOS; sympleapp.com) tracks symptoms. You can use this app to track headaches, rashes, insomnia--anything that could be indicative of a bigger problem. It's especially useful for tracking chronic conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. It can also be used to track short-term symptoms that lead up to strep throat or the flu.
True to its name, Symple is a simple app with an elegant interface. To start tracking a symptom, simply enter it into the app (you can call it whatever you like) and tap its severity level (5-step scale, ranging from "none" to "severe") each day. You can also track confounding variables (exercise, sleep, etc.), add notes, and upload photos. After you've been tracking your symptoms for a while, you can rotate your phone to landscape mode to see graphs of each symptom. You can also email your sympto m report to your doctor, which lets them see an overall trend--something that can't really be communicated in a quick office visit.
Symple is a diary app, which means it's not necessarily as locked-down as a true medical app. It's not HIPAA-compliant, and any information shared over the Internet is at risk of being intercepted by a third party. Photos uploaded to Symple are backed up to your personal iCloud, so be careful what you post.
Hula
Hula (free, iOS; hulahq.com) is an app that lets you share your verified STD status with other users. All you have to do is sign up and request your most recent test results from your doctor, clinic, or an STD testing center. (If you haven't been tested recently, the app can also point you to a center.) Hula obtains your results and translates them into simple language: It spits out your status (positive or negative) on a number of STDs, including HIV, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, Syphilis, and Hep C. Once your results are verified, you can share them with other Hula users or simply show them to potential partners on your iPhone.
Hula's default setting is privacy, privacy, and more privacy, but there's always a risk any time information is "shared" on the Internet. By default, Hula keeps your real name and all test results private unless you explicitly share them with someone (and nobody can ever look you up by name). However, Hula is not currently covered by HIPAA, though the company assures us that it "meets or exceeds" HIPAA's security standards.
Also, Hula's "verified" STD status should be taken with a grain of salt: Because all test results must be requested--doctors don't automatically send new results to Hula--users can simply not request their most recent results if they test positive for an STD. So the more recent the result, the more likely it's legit.
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