Digital health tools arrive with impressive claims and polished demos. Before you trust any of them — app, platform or AI tool — ask these five questions. They are drawn from the full Vitroniq Clinical Digital Health Evaluation Checklist used in professional engagements.
1. Is there peer-reviewed clinical evidence — from a population comparable to yours?
Vendor white papers and internal studies do not constitute independent clinical evidence. Look for peer-reviewed publication, and check whether the study population actually resembles your patients.
2. If it influences clinical decisions, is it TGA-registered as Software as a Medical Device?
Tools that diagnose, triage, calculate dosing or inform treatment decisions may require TGA registration regardless of how they are marketed. Ask the vendor directly — and verify the answer.
3. Where does patient data go, and who owns it?
Where is the data stored, who retains ownership, and under what circumstances can it be accessed by third parties, sold, or used to train AI models? Read the terms of service — not just the privacy summary. Offshore storage may expose patient data to foreign legislation.
4. Does it actually reduce clinical workload — or just move it?
Many tools reduce one burden while creating another. Require evidence of net time saving from clinicians in a context comparable to yours, not from the vendor’s demonstration environment.
5. Strip away the marketing — would the evidence alone earn your clinical trust?
This is the definitive test. If you encountered this tool’s evidence base in a peer-reviewed journal with no branding attached, would it meet your threshold? Apply the same standard you would to any clinical intervention.
The full checklist goes further
The complete Vitroniq Evaluation Playbook contains all ten questions with a structured 30-point scoring system, verdict thresholds (adopt / caution / decline), evaluation worksheets, and the red flags to watch for in vendor answers — the same discipline Vitroniq applies in professional engagements.