NIH Seeks Feedback on Using mHealth for the Precision Medicine Cohort

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking feedback from the scientific community regarding using mobile Health (mHealth) technologies for the Precision Medicine Cohort.  The agency points out that the collection of health and lifestyle data on “participant volunteers” have generally come from medical records and extensive phone or paper surveys.

For the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI), the agency is considering using smart phone and wireless technologies to collect some of this information (See Update, June 15, 2015).  The use of these devices, however, generates a number of considerations for which NIH is seeking feedback:

1. Willingness of participants to carry their smartphone and wear wireless sensor devices sufficiently throughout the day so researchers can assess their health and activities.
2. Willingness of participants without smartphones to upgrade to a smartphone at no expense.
3. How often people would be willing to let researchers collect data through devices without being an inconvenience.
4. The kind of information participants might like to receive back from researchers, and how often.
5. Other ways to conveniently collect information from participants apart from smart phones or wearable devices.

The agency will collect feedback on the topics through July 24, 2015 on the NIH’s website.

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