Smartphone Applications. If the Health Plan uses smartphone applications (apps) to allow enrollees direct access to Agency-approved member materials, the Health Plan shall comply with the following:
1. The smartphone application shall disclaim that the app being used is not private and that no PHI or personally identifying information should be published on this application by the Health Plan or end user; and
2. The Health Plan shall ensure that software applications obtained, purchased, leased, or developed are based on secure coding guidelines; for example:
a. OWASP [Open Web Application Security Project] Secure Coding Principles – xxxx://xxx.xxxxx.xxx/index.php/Secure_Coding_Principles;
b. CERT Security Coding – xxxx://xxx.xxxx.xxx/secure-coding/; and
c. Top 10 Security Coding Practices –
32. Attachment II, Core Contract Provisions, Section XII, Reporting Requirements, Item A., Health Plan Reporting Requirements, sub-item 1.c. is hereby amended to now read as follows:
Smartphone Applications. If the Health Plan uses smartphone applications (apps) to allow enrollees direct access to Agency-approved member materials, the Health Plan shall comply with the following:
1. The smartphone application shall disclaim that the app being used is not private and that no PHI or personally identifying information should be published on this application by the Health Plan or end user; and
2. The Health Plan shall ensure that software applications obtained, purchased, leased, or developed are based on secure coding guidelines; for example:
a. OWASP [Open Web Application Security Project] Secure Coding Principles – xxxx://xxx.xxxxx.xxx/index.php/Secure_Coding_Principles;
b. CERT Security Coding – xxxx://xxx.xxxx.xxx/secure-coding/; and
c. Top 10 Security Coding Practices – xxxxx://xxx.xxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxx.xxx/confluence/display/seccode/Top+10+Secure+Coding+Practices WellCare of Florida, Inc., Medicaid HMO Non-Reform Contract
Smartphone Applications. As more communities around the world obtain access to smartphones and similar devices, the use of these tools to improve health outcomes in those communities has embellished the mHealth field. For example, a systematic review conducted by Xxxx et al. (2013) discovered that text-messaging interventions increased adherence to antiretroviral therapy in a low-income setting and smoking cessation in high-income environments. The authors suggested a stricter, randomized controlled trial (RCT) design with measured, objective primary outcomes in order to be able to establish a relationship between the mHealth program and the health of the beneficiaries. An important conclusion from this systematic review discusses how most mHealth interventions are one-dimensional (only using text-messaging or voice-messaging capabilities and no inclusion of other, potentially beneficial components). By making mHealth interventions multi-faceted, their effects on health behaviors, and the self-management of disease can be further elucidated. Most importantly, however, the authors even suggested the use of application software, which could result in a considerably interactive platform that is available on one’s device at any time and could also have significant implications for health behaviors and disease management (Free et al., 2013). Other more recent studies in the field of mHealth have built on the observations of Free et al., implementing more interventions in low and middle-income countries, “particularly in view of the high coverage of mobile technologies in these settings” (Free et al., 2013). For example, a study conducted in Bangladesh evaluated the process through which a mHealth approach was proposed for the delivery of a phone-based, cholera prevention WaSH program called CHoBI7-- Cholera-Hospital-Based-Intervention-for-7-Days. They conducted interviews with government stakeholders to determine scalability and discovered support for the mHealth delivery format among diarrhea patients and their families. To fine-tune the text and voice messages delivered through the program, workshops were held to determine stakeholder preferences. Finally, a pilot implementation of the mHealth program revealed high user acceptability and how feasible it was to deliver the mHealth program to diarrhea patients arriving at a health facility in Bangladesh. Most of the trials evaluated in the Free et al. 2013 meta-analysis were involving text-messaging or voice-messaging technologies, b...
