It will be an important eight months for IMS Health. You’ll see fresh research on mobile app use, new customer announcements, results from early pilot programs, and new products meant to help AppScript, which lets doctors rate and “prescribe” mobile apps for their patients, come of age.
IMS is pushing AppScript hard at HIMSS 2015 this week in Chicago. The next development is a customer version of its site, which will let patients make their own profiles and shop for apps, devices and content.
Currently, AppScript works with hospitals to let doctors rate and suggest apps, devices and educational videos for patients to use. The doctors pick their products and then send an e-mail “prescribing” these things to their patients. Patients click through and download what they need.
Very early research suggests about half of the patients who get prescribed apps through AppScript will use them beyond the first month, according to the company.
Now imagine an AppScript-powered portal that sits on the site of a hospital, big employer or insurance company. The patients/employees/customers can go there, search for what they want, see the ratings and use anything there without the prescription.
Over-the-counter apps, so to speak.
The consumer site should go live in late May, said Matt Tindall, general manager of consumer solutions at IMS Health.
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.
[Top photo from Flickr user Jeff Kramer]
