There are thousands of consumer health applications (health apps), which run on smartphones, watches, tablets, and other mobile devices. These health apps are available for download for general consumers, patients, and healthcare professionals. Currently, there is no governmental agency that provides certification or guidance on health apps, although there are several projects from organizations such as HL7, the FDA, ONC, and OCR that are working to provide guidance. User discrepancy in terms of the validity and safety of the health apps they choose to use are primarily based on ratings or recommendations. This guide seeks to provide a health app decision tree that can assist medical professionals and consumers in making wise choices when using health apps.

The Children's Health Fund was made aware of a use case in which a health app that was targeted for use by adults was used for a child and consequently caused a detrimental health issue. Currently there are no certifying bodies for consumer-oriented health apps and consequently many doctors must navigate this domain themselves. This guide seeks to provide a health app decision tree that can assist medical professionals and consumers in making wise choices when using health apps.

Download the decision tree below.