In a rather interesting move, it’s been revealed that Republican House members are urging both the FDA and FCC to move faster in approving mobile medical apps.

In a letter sent to both agencies last week, House members asked for easier regulatory hurdles facing mHealth app developers, in addition to helping speed up the process of getting new apps submitted, approved and available to users.  The authors pointed out that the number of health-related apps for iOS alone grew by more than 250% from 2010 to 2011.

Looking at the growth, legislators are concerned that the “complex regulatory framework” between the various agencies could “inhibit future growth and innovation in this promising market and could preclude tools that help patients better manage their care.”

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Walgreens today announced that it’s added two new features to its iOS and Android-based mobile applications, including a new Pill Reminder feature and the ability to “Transfer by Scan.”

The latter enables users on iPhone and Android devices to transfer a prescription from another pharmacy to Walgreens by taking a picture of their prescription bottle and providing their name, date of birth and phone number, then sending to Walgreens with one click.  The new Pill Reminder feature allows iPhone mobile app users to track medication schedules and receive alerts through nine different reminder options, which can be set up by scanning a prescription barcode and selecting alert preferences.  Users also can add multiple prescriptions, vitamins and other supplements to a single reminder notification.

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ChartLogic, a company known for its EHR suite that spans Electronic Medical Records, patient portals, billing/document management and patient education solutions, has announced a new voice recognition overlay technology designed for compatibility with all leading EHR systems.

Called “Stella,” the new solution works similar to Apple’s Siri personal assistant by leveraging the same type of cloud-based natural language processing (NLP) technology to “greatly speed workflow for physicians by enabling them to use iPads, iPhones and other mobile devices with their hospital’s EHR system.”  Voice recognition has long had a place in the healthcare space, and with the proliferation of mobile devices the concept is finally coming to fruition.

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New research out from Research2Guidance is projecting the market for mobile health apps to more than double during 2012 to top off at more than $1.3B, up from $718M in 2011.

The healthy increase projected for this year is attributed to five main areas according to the research firm’s latest report, including app downloads, in-app advertisements, mHealth services, direct transactions and sensor sales. The latter being a substantial growth driver as a number of big healthcare companies published mHealth apps in 2011 that go far beyond the simple nature of most apps we’ve seen hit the market so far.

The report also notes that in 2012 the number of mHealth application users – mobile users who downloaded a smartphone mHealth application at least once – will reach 247 million.  This is nearly double the 124 million users who downloaded mHealth smarthphone applications in 2011.

The full report is available for download here.

The mHealth Regulatory Coalition (MRC), who has been very vocal in terms of the guidelines being proposed for mobile medical apps, has asked the FDA to revamp and republish its proposed guidelines — but as a second draft instead of finalized regulation.

On January 20th, the MRC made its request to the FDA in a letter by founding member and attorney Bradley Thompson of Washington, D.C.-based law firm Epstein Becker Green, which has been published to its website.  In it, the MRC explains industry fears that the FDA will scale back its proposed guidelines after being overwhelmed with more than 500 pages of industry comments from more than 100 interested parties.

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Happtique, a company known for creating a mobile app store specifically for mobile health applications, has announced plans to form a blue-ribbon panel to oversee development of a new mobile healthcare app certification program.

The new certification program will help evaluate and certify new mHealth apps for both professionals and patients.  The certification program will specify quality and performance standards that focus on an app’s “clinical appropriateness and technical functionality.”

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Research firm Frost & Sullivan has published a new report that suggests revenue earned from mHealth apps will reach $392M by 2015.

The report, entitled “Analysis of the U.S. Broadband mHealth Applications Market,” said that the mHealth market earned roughly $230M in 2010, and over the next 3 years is expected to expand exponentially as business models and significant value offerings continue to evolve.  The report also makes note of various restrictions on market entry, however, as seen in 2011 with the release of the FDA’s mHealth guidelines.

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