By: Surinder Yadav, MD
The little blue book is a healthcare app that can be useful for both providers and healthcare consumers. This app provides information in a concise package, similar to the Yellow Pages. There is even a trial period when the app can be used for free.
The app gives access to some vital non-clinical information by region and your own preferences can be set as default, depending if you winter in Florida or spend your summers on the Cape.
However, if you do select more than one region it takes some time to initially sync the database.
The app is easy to navigate through with categories at the bottom that are clear. Selecting a category such as “Doctors” brings up an alphabetic list that has a useful search window at the top for quick access to the right information.
In addition, the particular health plans accepted by physicians are listed for the consumer. Relevant information, such as pharmacy addresses and phone numbers are certainly useful to have at hand — as any provider knows — and particularly useful for the consumer. Easy mobile access to pharmacies is a big hurdle and the information at hand is a key feature.
The hospital category, though, is somewhat rudimentary. Just the address and phone number of the hospital is provided without anything extra. It would be really complimentary if they could link or provide quality rankings for the hospital, which could become an essential part of the decision making process for consumers when choosing a hospital for their care.
The health plan category provides important plan contact numbers and addresses based on your preferences you initially set.
Price:
- Free (through trial period) in app store
Likes:
- Provides useful phone numbers for the key contacts
- Overall, easy to use and navigate
- Useful for healthcare providers and consumers
Dislikes:
- Just basic information, no specifics
- No links to hospital websites or physician group sites
Conclusion:
- Overall a useful app, albeit, it contains mostly basic information. The Little Blue Book is an app that would be beneficial to have readily at hand, with the understanding that detailed information on certain things such as local hospitals is not provided.
