Marketing Periscope: Now There’s a Healthcare App for Prescribing Another App

Our first post about Happtique—the Greater New York Hospital Association’s (GNYHA) mobile application store—was just prior to its launch in 2010. Much has transpired in the subsequent couple of years.

There are some important trends here for forward-looking healthcare and hospital marketing professionals. Including—just this month—a pilot program for an app for issuing prescriptions.

As background, Happtique came on the scene at a time as smartphones were trending upward with explosive popularity. In the past 24 months, the mobile device market has further expanded to include iPhone and iPad competitors and other devices.

Second, the curiously named Happtique (de-cute to read: Healthcare-APP-bouTIQUE) has expanded its offering significantly. It’s an “app store”…perhaps the first online mobile resource for healthcare professionals—hospitals, continuing care facilities and physician practices—in support of patient mobile technology.

The Happtique site now includes a catalog of health apps that is organized and searchable by purpose, profession, mobile platform (Apple, Android, Blackberry) and other criteria. Various mobile applications improve doctor-patient communications, facilitate patient engagement and adherence, provide wellness reminders, enhance patient satisfaction, and ultimately contribute to better outcomes.

(Happtique is owned by the business arm of GNYHA ,which also provides group purchasing and healthcare consulting services to healthcare organizations throughout the US.)

Doctors wanted for the mRx™ Pilot Program

Happtique has put out the call for physicians and other health practitioners to participate in the mRx pilot progam. The app enables professionals to electronically prescribe medical, health, and fitness apps to their patients. “The pilot will focus particularly on cardiology, rheumatology, endocrinology, orthopedics, physical therapy, and fitness training,” according to Happtique.

Our previous post on this topic is here: TxtMsg to Hospital Marketing & Advertising Execs: Take Two Apps and Call Me in the Morning. And a related article is here from the New York Times.

We'll keep watching, but let us know what you think about prescribing an "app for an app."