On 7 May at Vitalis in Gothenburg, Leap for Life and the project Building Capacity for Quality Assurance of Health Apps are hosting a programme track on a growing issue in the digitalisation of healthcare: how can we ensure that health apps are safe, effective and accessible?

Health apps have significant potential to improve health outcomes and support more sustainable ways of working in health and social care. At the same time, there is often a lack of clear and shared approaches for assessing quality, evidence and safety. As a result, the same app may be evaluated differently across the country.

During this programme track, researchers, public authorities, healthcare professionals, companies and international experts will come together to discuss the challenges – and how shared frameworks and approaches could make it easier to assess and implement digital health apps.

Programme

08:30–09:00
The lack of shared quality requirements creates unequal access to health apps
Speakers:
Anna Maria Mårtensson, Project and Innovation Manager, Leap for Life
Marie Granander, Innovation Manager, DigitalWell Arena

09:00–10:00
How we can work together to make it easier to adopt new digital solutions
Speakers:
Pernilla Andrée, Project Manager, Swedish Institute for Standards (SIS)
Rikard Owenius, Investigator, Medical Devices Unit, Swedish Medical Products Agency

10:30–11:00
Health App Assessment in Europe
Petra Hoogendoorn, international expert in health app evaluation

11:00–11:20
The medical profession’s needs and experiences when prescribing health apps
Speaker:
Göran Petersson, Professor Emeritus in Health Informatics, Linnaeus University

11:20–12:10
How do we know that a health app delivers what it promises?
Speaker:
Matt Richardson, Senior Researcher, Mälardalen University

13:15–13:45
Can we confidently recommend health apps? How uncertainty about quality affects municipalities
Speaker:
TBA

13:45–14:15
Evaluating evidence-based digital therapies through national quality frameworks
Speaker:
Jukka Lähesmaa, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland

14:15–14:45
Why do digital solutions fail to scale despite high levels of innovation?
Panel discussion with:
Ann-Sophie Gustafsson, Karlstad Municipality
Jesper Olsson, Swedish Medtech
Maria Lindqvist, Healthcare Network
Stefan Skoglund, DigitalWell Ventures

Access to this programme requires a conference ticket for Vitalis.