In a recent study conducted by the prominent IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science (previously QuintilesIMS), designated Medisafe as the “Top Free & Publically Available App for Medication Management.” The report, entitled “The Growing Value of Digital Health:  Evidence and Impact on Human Health and the Healthcare System,” highlights Medisafe’s leadership position in an industry space of over 318,000 health apps and 340 consumer wearable devices now available worldwide.

The study, prompted by the proliferation of digital health tools, reviewed mobile health applications as well as wearables, testing for usability and evaluating their impact. The study focused on three areas; innovation, evidence, and adoption, in order to evaluate how these new tools are positioned to have an impact on the patient experience.

IQVIA found that there are over 200 health apps introduced every day. While the majority of apps are focused on general wellness, 40% focus on managing specific conditions and that number is growing.

The adoption of health apps is likely to increase as well. 77% of all Americans have smartphones and 40% of Americans have chronic conditions, which makes the landscape ripe for increased usage. Moreover, according to AppScripts’ App Database, the ratings for health apps have been increasing, possibly due to more attention paid to the patient experience.

To formulate their list of “Top Apps” list, IQVIA took a look at all the top rated free and publicly available apps within fifteen high priority digital health categories, including medication adherence. This analysis yielded just 25 apps as many categories did not have quality free and publicly available apps with high ratings on the app store. The majority of these top rated apps have at least one positive observational study which demonstrate the clinical efficacy of the app.

None of the top apps were originally developed by pharma even while a few, including MySugr, Propeller Health, and BlueStar Diabetes are either owned or have substantial partnerships with specific companies. According to IQVIA, the top apps point not only to the value of clinical validation for digital tools, but also the variety of business models that can create hurdles in the future even while digital health can provide avenues for cost savings to the healthcare sector.

The report draws on IQVIA’s proprietary AppScript analytics platform to provide an exhaustive, global assessment of overall app quality. The use of any of the top apps, as defined by IQVIA, has the potential to save the US healthcare system and estimated $7 billion a year as estimated by IQVIA.

The full study was written by Murray Aitken, Senior Vice President and Executive Director at IQVIA and Michael Kleinrock, Director of Research Development at IQVIA. You can find the full text available for download here.