Healthcare apps stores, or at least areas of mainstream app stores that target the healthcare profession,  are gathering interest, as well as attracting a fair bit of irritation when don’t deliver the expected results. Firstly, last month Apple launched a section in its app store targeting this very area. The Apple exec fronting the initiative who is called Afshad Mistri, wrote a short letter to encourage developers. He said he hoped “this small and focused collection of apps” would help customers discover and choose the best healthcare apps for iPhone and iPad. He laid out the six categories that the apps collection covered. Generally speaking of the six categories most were targeted at physicians (as well as one on education apps that was aimed at aspiring physicians in the former of medical students, as well as their qualified colleagues). Only one category (personal care apps) was targeted explicitly at consumers.

Meanwhile recent criticism has been aimed at the Android Market for not showcasing mobile apps in a meaningful way for healthcare professionals. Among the app store’s shortcomings are a lack of transparency about how the ranking system works, says the critics. Is it popularity? Or merit? It’s not clear. Plus the notion of a market targeted at healthcare professionals is diluted by the presence of too many patient-oriented apps.  And the lack of filtering of apps is also a problem.

Now, a group of hospitals (mostly in the New York area but one is in the UK) have joined forces to create their own app store. Actually, a tech firm that is a spin off from the hospitals’ parent company is the creative force behind the app store but essentially they are doing it for themselves. That means they can design a store that really fits their requirements. Obviously they can include apps which are tailor made for their staff. But also interestingly the store will include apps for patients. At first glance, this sounds like it might dilute the healthcare-centred approach of the store, in the same way that makes Android Market’s approach problematic. But if the store is controlled by the hospitals themselves then they get to choose what’s stocked in it. They could offer apps to patients that prepare them for their treatment by offering advice about what to expect following an operation, for instance.

App stores need not be run just by a hospital. Any company in the healthcare section serving a group of patients or customers could run its own store. And it’s a model that obviously need not be limited to the US. There are a number of advantages to an own-store approach for healthcare providers, including that they have a greater appreciation of the importance of privacy issues, a potential headache, than general-purpose app stores.

Actually healthcare providers do not have to cultivate in-house expertise to introduce their own app stores. Alternatively a deal could be struck with a specialist provider who could create a white label store that the healthcare provider brands as its own. This means providers can introduce their own rules and controls while reducing the workload in building the store in the first place, which might make it an attractive option.

Richard Handford

The editorial views expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and will not necessarily reflect the views of the GSMA, its Members or Associate Members.