Australian Health Apps Assessment Revised Framework
In 2022, the Australasian Institute of Digital Health (AIDH) received Health Peak and Advisory Bodies Program Community Grant Funding from the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DoHDA) to conduct an evaluation of the 2022 Australian mHealth Assessment Framework and, where relevant, make recommendations related to the improvement of the Framework, and explore options for its implementation.
AIDH led the project, collaborating with the Department of Health and Aged Care including the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), and with other stakeholders represented on the Advisory Committee.
About the 2022 Australian mHealth Assessment Framework
The Australian mHealth Apps Assessment Framework was developed by a National Project Steering Committee to address the challenges consumers and healthcare professionals face in selecting credible mHealth apps. It provides a comprehensive set of criteria for evaluating the quality, safety, and effectiveness of these apps. This initiative aims to support the safe and effective use of mHealth apps, contributing to the digital health market’s maturity and promoting the integration of digital tools in healthcare. This work is part of an ongoing assessment of the Australian mHealth framework.
Documents about the framework are available on the Australian Digital Health Agency’s website.
Phase 1 – Evaluation of the original Framework
In 2023, a Validation study was conducted to test the original Framework’s efficacy and applicability. This involved a targeted approach, engaging key stakeholders from government and industry to develop an initial baseline of test results. The study, supported by the Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, and a team of independent assessors, evaluated a selection of mHealth apps against the framework’s criteria, providing valuable insights.
The Validation study informed an Options report that provided insights into the practical application and areas of possible refinement of the Framework’s questions, future use, technology considerations and operationalisation.
The study also involved international perspectives provided by the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps (ORCHA), a world-leading health app evaluation organisation based in the United Kingdom. The report provided international context and comparison with frameworks adopted overseas.
The evaluation phase highlighted areas for improvement, leading to proposed updates. Key findings included the need for enhanced user data privacy measures and clearer app usability criteria.
Phase 2 – Stakeholder consultation
In 2024-25, the Institute for Health Transformation (IHT), Deakin University, was commissioned to revise the Framework based on the findings from Phase 1 and informed by input from the Advisory Committee and targeted stakeholder engagement. IHT also drafted the guidance document that provides context to the Framework and support for app developers.
The Advisory Committee and project team identified 200 contacts (some of them belonging to the same organisation) that were invited to take part in the targeted stakeholder consultation to gather feedback on both the draft revised version of the Framework and on the guidance document. The consultation comprised of a webinar and an online survey to gather insights on industry and community appetite regarding the implementation of the Framework.
Respondents were very diligent in their responses and the project team received supplementary advice from five organisations. The team also met with stakeholders who wanted to discuss further.
Phase 3 – Publication of the revised Framework and development of options for implementation
In 2025, the Institute for Health Transformation (IHT), Deakin University, supported by AIDH, analysed the feedback from survey respondents and made further revisions to the Framework and the guidance document.
Both documents are published (below) with a report outlining the major changes that were made to the Framework and the guidance document
Overview of the major changes
A notable change is the update of the term used to describe the Framework, with the term Health Apps adopted instead of mHealth.
Other changes include:
- Domains: the five original domains were retained, with some of them being renamed:
- Acceptability > Acceptability & culture;
- Safety & trust > Safety & trustworthiness;
- Ease of use > Usability, equity & inclusion;
- Privacy & security – unchanged;
- Technical quality assurance > Technical & quality.
- Framework logic: all questions were reworded to result in a Yes / No / NA answer.
- Questions – total: total number of questions went from 55 to 39, this resulted from questions being merged or deduplicated.
- Questions – rewording: most of the questions were reworded to clarify the questions for the intended audience, improve wording related to inclusion and cultural safety, and technical aspects.
- Example of evidence: a category was added to the Framework to assist app developer in gathering the information they need to respond to the framework’s questions.
IHT and AIDH collaborated to develop and evaluate opportunities to support implementation of the revised Framework which have been outlined and provided to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
The revised Framework is available as a fillable pdf checklist to be used by app developers as a guide.
Contact the team via [email protected] if you would like to know more about the project