Coming Next: Using an App as Prescribed

Soon smartphone apps may act as medical devices, helping patients monitor their heart rate or manage their diabetes, and be paid for by insurance. The idea of medically prescribed apps excites some people in the health care industry, who see them as a starting point for even more sophisticated applications that might otherwise never be built. But first, a range of issues — around vetting, paying for and monitoring the proper use of such apps — needs to be worked out.