FDA-Catalyst MyStudies App Alignment with Pragmatic Trials and/or Registries

Analysis of health outcomes can be limited because data in electronic health record (EHR) and claims systems omit information like over-the-counter drug use, patient pain and discomfort, social behaviors, and environmental factors. A pilot project has addressed opportunities to enhance the information collected on patient experience to improve such analyses. The pilot project workgroup created a customizable mobile device application (app), FDA MyStudies, based on existing mobile research frameworks to collect patient data in real time and demonstrated that patient-reported information can be combined with data from the Sentinel Common Data Model for individual assessments as needed. The app utilizes a web-based tool for creation and distribution of questionnaires and supplementary materials. Patient responses are stored in a privacy-protecting cloud-based repository.

This project will include implementing several enhancements to the FDA-Catalyst MyStudies app to improve its usability and facilitate collection of detailed information. The work includes implementation of the app to facilitate collection of patient-reported data for up to two Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) pragmatic trials and one PCORI registry selected by the FDA.

View the pilot project here. 

Open Source Support

All source code for the FDA MyStudies System is publicly available on the development platform GitHub and researchers are encouraged to set up their own instance of the system for their own purposes. Through September 2020, FDA is providing support to engage with the developer community and provide regular updates with new features and fixes to issues reported by our partners, researchers, and developers.

To suggest a feature, report an issue, or request assistance setting up your own instance of the MyStudies system, open an issue here.