Seven University of Utah Health projects have received seed grants that could promote the development and use of more scientifically based digital health applications in daily healthcare.
The grants, supported by the university’s Digital Health Initiative (DHI), will focus on projects designed to produce safer and more effective digital tools than are currently available, according to Guilherme Del Fiol, M.D., Ph.D., co-director of DHI and a professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at U of U Health.
DHI leverages expertise from the GApp Lab, a facility that hosts more than 35 graduate students and staff working on medical games and apps, and ReImagine EHR, which is leveraging the evolution of EHRs into platforms for third-party innovations using interoperability frameworks such as the FHIR, SMART, and CDS Hooks standards.
“There’s been a surge in the use of digital health applications in the past few years, both by patients and their doctors,” Del Fiol said in a statement. “But how many of these apps actually work as intended? Most are promoted with little or no rigorous scientific evidence.”
The University of Utah noted that a 2019 analysis of studies conducted by the 25 top-funded American producers of digital health tools, including wearable biosensors and mobile health apps, found that most of these products did not have a substantial impact on health outcomes, cost, or access to care. Another study of mental health apps concluded that only 14 percent of the 1,400 apps evaluated were based on real-world experiences, and none mentioned a certification or accreditation process.
“We see these seed grants as a tremendous opportunity to alter that trajectory,” Del Fiol added. “They represent a starting point for taking innovative, reliable, and scientifically tested digital health applications from bench to bedside.”
The seed grant projects will receive up to $50,000 for one year. The researchers will develop, test, and evaluate digital applications that fall within one of the four main areas of interest within the DHI:
- Mobile apps and games for health
- Virtual reality and sensors
- Clinical decision support tools
- Integration with electronic health records (EHR)
If successful, the projects will progress to clinical trials designed to assess their usefulness in a larger context, explained Victoria Tiase, Ph.D., R.N., director of strategic development at DHI, in a statement. “Clinicians treating patients at the bedside need better efficiency today,” she said. “So, we need to get more practical and effective digital tools in the pipeline. We hope that these seed grants will be a jumping-off point for that effort.”
Recipients of the seven seed grants represent 11 U of U Health disciplines, ranging from anesthesiology to nursing to population health.
One example involves Symptom Care at Home, a program that helps cancer patients reduce symptoms that occur during treatment for cancer, asks patients to report daily symptoms in a mobile application or by phone and receive automated coaching or follow-up from a nurse practitioner to manage their symptoms. With this DHI seed grant, the researchers will identify ways that Symptom Care at Home can incorporate patient-reported symptoms into their electronic health records.
In another study, researchers will collect patient-generated health data, using mobile devices like a Fitbit, from patients aged 65 and older with chronic pain. The participating patients will review and discuss their personal data with the research team to help them understand how these data are useful to patients in managing their own health. This research can be applied to future care of pain and other health conditions.
