Others are paired up with wearables and other devices that feed them data from usersвЂ™ bodies, like continuous glucose monitors.

Some are stand-alone products, for which you need nothing more than a smartphone. Such apps, known as вЂњdigital therapeuticsвЂќ, hold great promise for common and rare diseases alike. France and Belgium are copying the German model. Twelve have already done so and another 19 are on the provisional list. Apps that provide solid evidence from clinical trials get permanent approval. In Germany health apps can get provisional approval for a year based on preliminary evidence of benefits, which obliges health insurers to pay for them. Some European countries are designing special approval pathways that also stipulate how health apps are paid for through their health systems.

They are reviewed under the rules for medical devices, usually in the moderate-risk category (which covers things such as pregnancy tests and electric wheelchairs). Since 2017 the FDA has approved more than 40 other health apps for problems as varied as diabetes, back pain, opioid addiction, anxiety, ADHD and asthma. The app is registered as a medical device by AmericaвЂ™s Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) and also in the European Union.

Medical brain app