In Germany, more and more health apps on cell phones are being reimbursed by health insurers. This is primarily based on the fact that on the one hand, these apps have been able to prove a medical benefit and, on the other hand, on a law that has been in force since the end of 2019. So far, 20 applications have been approved, most of them for the treatment of mental illnesses. However, there are also applications for somatic conditions such as for dealing with tinnitus, obesity or knee and hip osteoarthritis. You may ask yourself how this is supposed to work? After all, a cell phone is not a pill. But here comes the interesting fact: the effects of medical apps sometimes work even better than pills, are more sustainable and have fewer side effects. This is based on a change in the attitude toward illness, which plays a more important role than one might initially think, especially in the case of chronic illnesses. A stress reaction often further damages the body, which is already under attack. The pressure on people with chronic diseases such as rheumatism, psoriasis or inflammatory bowel disease is enormous. Despite pain and dysfunction, one has to function in everyday life. It is not uncommon for people to reach a dead end here. Medical apps help bring calm to the body, stabilize the autonomic nervous system and have been proven to normalize the immune system. In other words, less stress. Rest, sleep and balance are very crucial factors for less inflammation and a better quality of life. Through specific relaxation exercises, muscle relation and information on disease, studies sometimes show extremely good results. No, apps are not small miracles and they don’t heal, but they can help patients become more self-sufficient, and steer their lifestyle in the right direction.
To do this, the app regularly determines disease activity by asking certain questions. This sounds trivial, but mostly it is a scientifically tested specific set of questions. This can also be used to determine which exercise now has a particularly good effect on a specific disease. This is also where artificial intelligence comes into play. The app can simulate your disease progression and test various interventions, e.g., through diet or exercises, to then suggest the best solution. The algorithm is learned not only from your data, but from that of thousands of patients.
Do apps now replace the family doctor, specialist or therapist? Certainly not. But they do give patients a little more autonomy and self-determination, and they can be partners in assisting when it comes to taking matters into your own hands. In addition, health apps provide specific information about the condition in question by collecting and compiling data. This also helps doctors get a quicker overview of the situation.
We believe that health apps will be used regularly in the future, primarily for chronic diseases. This will change the so-called “point of care,” which means that as a patient, you are no longer absolutely dependent on one person. In the future, the state of health will no longer depend on the vacation of your doctor. This is good, because a disease does not care about the doctor’s vacation. Also, in the future there may be a better knowledge about what has helped other people in the same situation. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a medicine, maybe even an old home recipe from grandmother can do the trick.
The main purpose of apps is not necessarily to replace medication. Some of the digital applications are designed as “companion apps.” That is, they manage the treatment of certain conditions with an app and the medication as a “piggyback.” Through the apps, one can react much faster to fluctuations in the disease without always having to contact the doctor.