Proposed: FDA Office of Mobile Health

A bill is set to be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that aims to improve the evaluation process for mobile health apps. The bill would establish a special office at the FDA to provide recommendations on mobile health app issues and create a mobile health developer support program to help developers operate within privacy regulations. The FDA has been regulating a few medical apps and released draft guidelines, but some developers have complained that the approval process is too slow. Mobile health apps are a quickly growing sector, with 500 million users expected by 2015.