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Seminar series provides public sector with knowledge to quality check health apps

DigitalWell Arena is launching a seminar series in September to strengthen public sector capacity to quality assure health apps. The aim is to increase the potential of digital services to contribute to better health.

Today, more than 200 000 health apps are available on the Swedish market. However, differing requirements make it difficult for municipalities and regions to determine which solutions are up to scratch. Unlike pharmaceuticals or medical devices, there is no national body that pre-screens health apps. Instead, it is up to each region and municipality to ensure quality – a responsibility that requires both knowledge and structure.

This is where the international technical specification ISO/TS 82304-2:2021 comes in. The specification summarises the relevant quality requirements for health apps and offers a common basis to start from. The seminar series builds directly on this knowledge and translates it into a concrete checklist.

Four themes provide a checklist for quality requirements

During the seminar series, experts will guide you through four key areas:

  • Evidence: ensuring that the app works and does good
  • User-friendliness: accessible and understandable for different audiences
  • Data security: safe handling of information
  • Interoperability and technical robustness: reliability and interaction with existing systems

Each seminar will combine lectures and dialogue, allowing participants to share experiences and contribute to common interpretations of the requirements.

“The seminar series is aimed at those who are both responsible for and use digital tools. By clarifying and increasing knowledge of the regulatory areas, we create the conditions for using health apps in a safe and effective way in Sweden,” says Mari Banck, development manager in Region Värmland.

Mari Banck (right) has extensive experience working with regulatory issues at the Swedish Institute for Standards. She is also a member of DigitalWell Arena’s project group, which is working to establish a common, national framework for quality assurance of health apps.

Part of a national project

The seminar series is organised by DigitalWell Arena, Leap for Life, Region Värmland and Linnaeus University within the framework of the project Capacity for Quality Assurance. In the project, a number of relevant health apps will also be quality reviewed in collaboration with companies, to gain experience in putting the technical specification into practice.