JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In 2020, while more than 250 e-health solutions were added to app stores each day, or 90 000 in the year, the great heterogeneity in their quality led the vast majority did not undergo clinical validation and their quality and relevance is indeed uncertain on average. But how do healthcare institutions, prescribers, or patients’ associations know which ones to choose? We sought to develop a simple pre-screening scoring method that would assess the quality and clinical relevance of each app and choose whether to refine the evaluation of a solution.

Objective:

We propose a novel pre-screening scoring tool (mdscs.fr), consisting of 26 questions whose answers enable the quick assessment and comparison of the clinical relevance and the quality of e-health apps.

Methods:

The Medical Digital Solution scoring tool is based on the 2021 evaluation criteria of the National Health Authority (HAS), the 2022 ESMO recommendations, and other provided scores. We built the scoring tool with patient association and e-health experts and submitted it to e-health app creators, who evaluated their app via the web form in January 2022. After completing the evaluation criteria, their app obtained an overall score and 4 categories of sub-scores. These criteria evaluated the type of solution and domain, the solution’s targeted population size, the level of clinical assessment, and information about the provider.

Results:

68 health solutions were evaluated with the scoring tool. Oncology (20 apps (22.5%)), and general health solutions (21 solutions (23.3%)), were the most represented. Of the 68, 32 apps (41.1%) were involved in remote monitoring by health professionals. Nine apps (5.0%) assessed overall survival as a clinical outcome. Randomized studies had been conducted for 23 apps (20.9%) to assess their benefit. The median global score was 11.2/20 (min 4.7/20, max 17.4/20) and the distribution of the scores followed a normal distribution pattern.

Conclusions:

This multidomain pre-screening scoring tool is simple, fast, and can be deployed on a large scale to initiate an assessment of the clinical relevance and the quality of a clinical, e-health app. This tool can help improve the quality of solutions and makes it easier for users to choose whether to refine the evaluation of a solution.