While the announcement itself largely flew beneath the radar in recent days, the impact of this development could reverberate well into the future.
Last week, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced its sponsorship of an educational program series called the “Mobile Medical Apps (MMA) Roadshow: Managing App Development under FDA Regulation.”
In this effort, the CEA joins a consortium of six leading universities, more than a dozen industry trade associations and professional societies, and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
The MMA Roadshow events, taking place at universities across the U.S., aims to demystify the FDA requirements for new entrant app developers and identify best practices among those already producing regulated apps.
“There are huge opportunities for healthcare providers to monitor and diagnose remotely, and for individuals to take a major role in their own healthcare with fewer trips to the doctor,” says Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the CEA. “Consumers are increasingly using electronics to manage their health, and we are thrilled to support a program that aims to spur innovation by bringing more mobile apps into the healthcare space.”
As mHealthWatch has covered in-depth in recent months, last year the FDA published its final guidance on mobile medical apps. It was a critical step in offering developers greater clarification of how higher-risk mobile apps would be addressed or regulated.
Since then, the CEA says, companies have been examining the final guidance in an effort to determine how it impacts their particular apps and business plans.
Consequently, the organization hopes its educational efforts will help to not only guide developers in the right direction with their projects but support better finished products for apps in design or development stages today.