Why Medtech Needs to Learn about iOS and Android

As a software developer with experience in the healthcare realm, Colin Anawaty, ?CPO and cofounder of Filament Labs (Austin, TX) has some words of wisdom for medical device developers considering delving into the mobile software world: "Given the fact that there is this whole trend towards wearables, it could be helpful to learn about these mobile platforms," says Anawaty.

"Whether you are using iOS and embracing Swift, which is supposed to be a much more friendly language for learning how to program in the context of iOS, or you are using Android and perhaps a derivative such as their software for watches and smaller screens, that would be the place that I would start," Anawaty says.

While legacy medical devices are built by brilliant engineers using sophisticated hardware, when it comes to the user interface, however, the user experience often could be streamlined, according to Anawaty.

Filament Labs was inspired to tap the power of software to convert paper-based healthcare plans into mobile plans that users could naturally interact with on their smartphone or tablet.

The healthcare industry at large can learn from how software is leading to ever simpler and more intuitive interfaces. Today's smartphone is easier to use than a VCR remote was decades ago.

Consider also the modern smartphone and how many functions it has: It can work as a GPS, Internet browser, camera, iPod, activity tracker, and even a flashlight. Software enables the smartphone to do the work of numerous devices using the device's touch screen as a primary user interface, often creatively using hardware in innovative ways. For instance, the camera flash bundled onto smartphones has been repurposed by companies like Azumio to work as a heart rate monitor or a pulse oximeter.

The medical device industry can learn from this and find new ways to integrate consumer-tech-inspired software into its products.

While both iOS and Android are worth learning about, Anawaty recommends that device developers give special consideration to Android, which has the advantage of being Open Source. Device engineers could consider using Android as a foundation for the user experience of a device and avoid getting too caught up in that layer of development. "That way, the medical device hardware engineers can really focus on innovation in making the device smaller, such as, say, a microbot that can go inside the body, but allowing that software layer to be handled by the 'experts' from the software side," he explains. "Unfortunately, Apple with iOS doesn't offer that kind of freedom but Google certainly does. I think there are probably some exciting things you can do with Android and even taking a derivative of Android's smartwatch-based version and use it in the context of something much smaller," Anawaty adds. "Once medical device developers have wrapped their heads around Android, they can really use it for any type of screen whether it is their own version of a tablet or their version of a wearable-type watch-like device or something completely different."

Device developers interested in iOS can start learning about Apple's forthcoming Healthkit by programming for iOS8 Beta.

Still, Anawaty cautions about app fatigue, which sets in as users tire of the endless proliferation of mobile apps and dreads installing new ones.

In Filament Labs' software development, the company is not asking itself, "How do we develop the latest and greatest app and get a patient to use it?" The company is asking: "How can we best reach all of these people carrying smartphones?" Instead of apps, the company is considering tried-and-true platforms like interacting with patients via SMS, email, or an interactive voice response. The company is working on expanding its platform from an accessibility perspective to make it as easy to use as possible for the user.

"Within healthcare, a large proportion of the costs are in chronic disease and when you break that down, more often than not, it is not for people who can afford the latest and greatest technology," Anawaty says. The people who need the most help are often in places with poor food policies with high rates of chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease. "Even though we have started on the iPhone and Android because of the awesome trends are happening with those platforms on a hardware level, we are certainly not ignoring the entire population."

There has a been a trend in recent years to focus on the "quantified self" trend--and hope that the adherents of self-tracking everything from their sleep patterns to activity level are trailblazers, and that the majority of the population will follow their lead. That may not happen, however. "Most of these [quantified self] people are already usually pretty healthy and are just trying to fine tune it. They are just kind of junkies for what can they do to make themselves even stronger, better and faster," he says. "The people who really need it are often the least motivated and in many case, couldn't afford to pay out of pocket [for quantified self tools]. That is where we started and where we started building out software to address those root problems."

Brian Buntz is the editor-in-chief of MPMN. Follow him on Twitter at @brian_buntz.

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