Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
Date Submitted: Apr 22, 2022
Date Accepted: Sep 1, 2022
Current State of Mobile Apps Owned by Large Pediatric Hospitals in the U.S.: A Review of Google Play and Apple App Stores
ABSTRACT
Background:
Pediatric hospitals around the United States are increasingly leveraging patient facing mobile apps as their digital front doors for patients, families, and caretakers. These mobile health apps are sanctioned by pediatric hospitals to inform the public or populations about pediatric care, to provide individualized information, to enhance communication, and to improve patient experience. Yet, the design, functionalities, and user feedback of these hospital mobile apps have not been systematically investigated.
Objective:
Our aim is to understand the current state of hospital-owned mobile apps provided by large pediatric hospitals, comparatively analyze, and report the services provided, and identify potential gaps to inform developers and providers.
Methods:
We conducted a systematic search on Google Play and Apple App Store platforms to identify all hospital-owned mobile apps from the pediatric hospitals included in our review. Specialty apps centered around specific clinical departments, research, procedures, or conditions were excluded. Features and functionality of included apps were examined.
Results:
Of the 16 pediatric hospitals included in our review, 4 had no general patient facing apps, 4 had one app, and 8 had more than one app available on Google Play or Apple App Store. The 12 hospitals with at least one mobile app had a combined total of 73 apps. 62 of these apps were considered specialty and were excluded from our review, leaving a total of 11 apps to analyze. The most common feature among apps was appointment scheduling/reminder (82%). Doctor search (73%) and patient resources (73%) were the second most common, followed by payment/billing/claims (64%), patient portal integration (55%), personal health management (55%), hospital wayfinding (45%), message a provider (36%), urgent care wait times (36%), video chat (36%), health information access (36%). Parking information (27%) was the least common.
Conclusions:
Out of 16 pediatric hospitals identified for our review, 75% offer mobile apps. Based on the most common features, these apps were designed to help improve accessibility for patients and families in terms of finding providers, scheduling appointments, and accessing patient resources. We believe the findings will inform pediatric hospital administrators, developers, and other stakeholders to improve app feature offerings and to increase their impact on service accessibility and patient experience.
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