Abstract from the article titled, "Before Using Birth Control Apps Consider Your Privacy" posted on Wired.com: "Natural Cycles’ privacy policy states that in using the app each user grants the company and any of its partners broad rights to “use, reproduce, distribute, modify, adapt, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, communicate to the public, and otherwise utilize and exploit a user's anonymized information.”

An article posted in the Journal of the American Medical Association identified that some of the highest-ranking health apps used to assist people with mental health conditions (e.g. depression) and smoking cessation were sharing data with Facebook and Google services and that only a third disclosed such practices.

This is based on an article from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISA is the Nation’s risk advisor, working with partners to defend against today’s threats and collaborating to build a more secure and resilient infrastructure for the future. CISA provides extensive cybersecurity and infrastructure security knowledge which can assist people in applying better personal health information risk management. 

In this article, CISA explains risks associated with mobile device apps and some preventive methods that can be used to better secure your personal information.

SUBJECTIVE: This article published in Wired magazine discusses the long tail of privacy considerations that we need to think through when installing and giving permissions to apps on our smartphones, computers, and other internet connected devices. It brings to light the many different ways in which seemingly innocent functionalities that you turn on in apps can gather a lot of information that is often unknown to the user.

This article from the Economist discusses how "health apps" are starting realize positive benefits when addressing behavioral health issues sucha s diabetes and substance.

The MyFitnessPal fitness app has reported that approximately 150 million accounts a part of their nutrition tracker were breached in February 2018. It is reported that an authorized user hacked into the MyFitnessPal database system and stole user data.

Dr. Kevin Pho offers consumers and patients some personal advice on how best to present your personal research to a doctor trying to assit you with your ailments. In short, an informed patient is absolutely a good thing to be, but be willing to listen to your doctor since they are observing the uniqueness of the situation of being exactly you.

From the OCR website: 

We are experiencing an explosion of technology using data about the health of individuals in innovative ways to improve health outcomes. Building privacy and security protections into technology products enhances their value by providing some assurance to users that the information is safe and secure and will be used and disclosed only as approved or expected. Such protections are sometimes required by federal and state laws, including the HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules.

From the VA website:

VA Mobile Health aims to improve the health of Veterans by providing technologies that expand clinical care beyond the traditional office visit.

Our apps are developed for both Veterans and VA care teams, offering safe and secure mobile access to patient data, and providing more opportunities for Veterans to be active participants in their health care.

The AHRQ QuestionBuilder app helps patients and caregivers prepare for medical appointments and maximize visit time.

1. Download the mobile app.
2. Select or create questions to ask.
3. Save the questions to a calendar appointment or send them to any email address so that the information is handy during medical visits.*