Making care mobile Introducing the apps pharmacy www.pwc.com/ca/virtualcare

www.pwc.com/ca/virtualcare
Making care
mobile
Introducing the apps pharmacy
Introducing the apps pharmacy
Tens of thousands of mobile health applications are already available
and this number grows every day. Some of these solutions have real
value that can save patients and providers time and money and can
even improve health care outcomes.
But without standards in place, how can users trust the accuracy of
these new tools? Digital health technology has enormous promise,
but patients, providers and regulators need to work together to find
a way to safely and effectively distribute medical health apps.
The apps formulary
Organizations need to develop an apps formulary which would act as a guide to
providers and patients in the selection and recommendation of apps for public use.
The formulary, a list of reputable apps that have been approved for use by the medical
executive committee, would also include policies on when and how to prescribe them.
Hospitals
The challenge mHealth presents
for hospitals and academic medical
centres is curation as well as
creation. Developing a taxonomy
of health apps and figuring out
which ones are best suited for your
stakeholders can be a daunting task.
With our methodology for
developing an apps formulary,
you can hit the ground running to
build your organizational mHealth
strategy. Using our accelerators,
like our beta apps formulary, you’ll
be better able to engage patients
in their care, assist providers in
delivering health services and
improve collaboration between
partners.
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Making care mobile: Introducing the apps pharmacy
Community care
providers
One way mHealth can
revolutionize community care is
by introducing collaborative tools
to connect providers with their
peers and with their clients using
simple consumer technologies.
Imagine having the ability to
include health apps and selfmanagement tools as part of each
client’s collaborative care plan.
Our methodologies, like the
apps formulary, can help you
enhance client engagement in
their care, and quickly accelerate
your organization’s virtual care,
provider collaboration, and
remote monitoring initiatives.
Retailers
Canadians are driving the
virtualization of care. Now is the time
for leading consumer organizations
to work together to respond to that
need.
To do this, we help organizations
build innovative partnerships in
an effort to achieve long term,
cost effective solutions. Our team
of multidisciplinary professionals
helps bring people together across
the health ecosystem to make the
changes to care that Canadians want
and need.
The apps pharmacy
Once a health app has been prescribed, the
patient would need to pick it up, or in this
case, download it. Just like a traditional drug
store, there are apps that need to be regulated,
evaluated and categorized and others that may
not need that same level of rigour.
For example front of store apps are like mHealth
‘vitamins’ that help supplement a healthy
lifestyle. Over the counter apps, or mHealth
‘cough syrup’ on the other hand, may include
a discussion and assessment of patient needs.
Prescription apps would be part of a plan of
care directed by a physician or health care
professional. These apps are produced by highly
trusted hardware providers. Finally, controlled
apps require close supervision and active
management of use.
This framework would help health care
providers direct patients to reliable mHealth
tools and give patients the confidence to use
them.
The apps formulary (#appsformulary)
Front-of-Store Apps
A n ap
Fitness and Health apps that help
supplement a healthy lifestyle.
p a day
Over-the-Counter Apps
Apps selected by your medical advisory team that
wouldn’t require a prescription to download.
Prescription Apps
Apps designed for supported self-management,
post-surgical follow up or viewing test results.
How we can help
The apps pharmacy is a critical step in the
virtualization of care. We’ve developed the apps
formulary as a framework to help organizations
create their own customized plan of action.
Our team of experts help organizations develop
short term and long term plans that help
address issues now and prepare for those
in the future.
Controlled Apps
Apps for diagnostic testing and
remote patient monitoring.
Three ‘beta’ versions of
the apps forumlary exist:
Acute care,
Mental health care
and Cancer care.
To learn more scan here.
These early formularies are presented examples
to prompt discussions and have not been validated
www.pwc.com/ca/virtualcare
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www.pwc.com/ca/virtualcare
Our approach
The move towards the virtualization of care is already happening
across Canada.To help your organization begin this transition,
we bring a unique understanding of health care needs, crossindustry knowledge and leading best practices in virtual care
transformation.
Interested to learn more about the findings?
Contact our local public sector professionals to request a briefing.
For more information, please contact:
William Falk
National Health Industries Leader
416 687 8486
[email protected]
@willfalk
Wayne Samuels
Partner, Consulting & Deals
416 869 2433
[email protected]
John Moore
National Public Sector Leader
613 782 2983
[email protected]
Genevieve Bonin
Ontario Public Sector Lead
416 815 5191
[email protected]
Mike Harris
British Columbia Public Sector Lead
604 806 7711
[email protected]
Daniel Cadoret
Quebec Public Sector Lead
418 691 2433
[email protected]
Robert Reimer
Manitoba & Saskatchewan Public Sector Lead
204 926 2442
[email protected]
Shawn Porter
Atlantic Public Sector Lead
902 491 7469
[email protected]
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