To conduct mHealth research, you will either create a mobile health platform or use an already existing platform. The following resource will help you navigate your partnership with a 3rd party technology vendor.
The mHRC has found the following steps helpful when trying to choose the 3rd Party platform of best fit for your project:
- Identify your priority minimal viable product, and identify vendors that meet that need
- Establish communication with the product representative
- Request a demo
- Ask to review the company’s relevant product use cases
- If appropriate, contact or request to contact at least 1 to 2 clients who are currently using the product
- Determine how long the product has been in use (aka: on the market)
- Ask how the product has been tested before it went “live”
- Explore the product maintenance plan (for software updates and bug fixes)
- Find out about the license agreement or cost modeling for using the product
- Determine where the data will be stored (at the University or in a cloud based server/database)
- Establish who will have oversight for vetting the compliance of the technology to the regulations that govern the study