Development of an android app in compliance with the continua health alliance design guidelines for medical device connectivity in mhealth

Abstract

Due to the demographic change and rising amount of people suffering from lifestyle induced chronic diseases, developed countries face a remarkable cost explosion in the health care sector. Additionally a lack of nursing workforce has been predicted [1]. mHealth solutions are seen as a chance for individuals to keep track of their health condition, to take more responsibility for their lifestyle and to improve the efficiency of care by providing high quality data to formal and informal careers and health professionals. In order to implement these mHealth solutions a high level of standardization is necessary for easy and quick integration of personal health devices (e.g. blood pressure monitor, blood glucose meter) with gateway devices (e.g. smart-phones) and electronic health record (EHR) systems. The Continua Health Alliance Design Guidelines describe a set of internationally established standards and frameworks for this purpose. This paper describes the experience gained during the development of an Android application which is capable of communicating via Bluetooth using the Health Device Profile and the ISO/IEEE 11073-20601 Optimized Exchange Protocol. The WAN interface uses the IHE DEC and XUA profiles in order to securely forward health data to health professionals. Building on existing modules from earlier project phases a Continua Health Alliance compliant Android app using commercially available components was implemented within one month by a team of two developers. Therefore it seems feasible for SMEs to build mHealth applications for these purposes from a technical point of view. Additional effort for regulatory purposes needs to be considered. © 2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston.