Lessons Learned from Development of a Mobile App for Cardiovascular Health Awareness

Bryan Weichelt, Jeffrey VanWormer, Yin Xu, Chris Kadolph and Simon Lin
Additional contact information
Bryan Weichelt: National Farm Medicine Center, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, 1000 N Oak Ave, Marshfield, WI 54449, USA
Jeffrey VanWormer: Center for Clinical Epidemiology & Population Health, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, 1000 N Oak Ave, Marshfield, WI 54449, USA
Yin Xu: Gogobot Inc., 1047 Sonoma Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
Chris Kadolph: Office of Research Computing and Analytics, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, 1000 N Oak Ave, Marshfield, WI 54449, USA
Simon Lin: The Research Institute, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 700 Children’s Dr., Columbus, OH 43205, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major public health concern in the United States. In response to the federally sponsored Million Hearts Risk Check Challenge, a team of programmers, software developers, health-information technologists, and clinicians in an integrated healthcare system in Wisconsin collaborated to develop Heart Health Mobile TM (HHM), designed to improve awareness of cardiovascular disease risk and promote risk factor control among users. This paper outlines the development processes and highlights key lessons learned for mobile health applications. An agile project management methodology was used to dedicate adequate resources and employ adaptive planning and iterative development processes with a self-organized, cross-functional team. The initial HHM iOS app was developed and tested, and after additional modifications, gamified and HTML 5 versions of the app were released. The development of an iOS app is low in cost and sustainable by a healthcare system. Future app modifications to enhance data security and link self-reported cardiovascular risk assessment data to patient medical records may improve performance, patient relevance, and clinician acceptance of HHM in the primary-care setting. Legal and institutional barriers regarding the capture and analyses of protected health information must be mitigated to fully capture, analyze, and report patient health outcomes for future studies.

Keywords: healthcare; telehealth; mHealth; rural; gamification; gamified (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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