An article in The Washington Post points to how mobile health apps suffer from some limitations because of concerns over how they ensure patient safety and data privacy. The US Food and Drug Administration is set to publish its first-ever apps guidelines for mhealth later this year. Bakul Patel, a policy adviser who worked on the forthcoming guidelines, says in the article that the FDA is currently compiling a set of guidelines for those mobile apps that are designed to assist doctors in reaching a diagnosis or devising a treatment plan.  

The article cites a US app developer called M3 Information. Its app asks patients a series of questions intended to assess where they are exhibiting symptoms of various mental illnesses. But the app does not go so far as a diagnosis. The Washington Post says the app is in some ways indicative of the broader mobile health market in the lack of certainty about the regulatory situation. The app would likely be covered by the FDA’s proposed set of guidelines.