The Center for Connected Health is launching what they say is a first-of-its-kind research tool to help companies, device manufacturers, startups and investors better understand what consumers want from personal health technologies.

The cHealth Compass mobile platform creates customized surveys targeting a large research panel of U.S. adult health care consumers, patients, caregivers and health care professionals, to answer questions related to the design, testing and implementation of connected health technologies and products.

“We have the unique advantage of operating within the Partners HealthCare network, giving us unparalleled access to leading health care providers and their patients, to conduct real-world, real-time research,” said Joseph C. Kvedar, MD, Director, Center for Connected Health. “Companies working with the cHealth Compass will benefit from the same clinical expertise, in-depth knowledge of health and consumer technologies, and innovative outside-the-box thinking and practical real-world experience our team brings to bear.”

Led by Kamal Jethwani, MD, MPH, Corporate Manager for Research and Innovation at the Center for Connected Health, cHealth Compass will be used to create a research panel of U.S. adult health care consumers, patients, caregivers and health care professionals.

Participants of the cHealth Compass will complete monthly surveys to provide longitudinal data on their health.Participants of the cHealth Compass will complete monthly surveys to provide longitudinal data on their health and to shed insight on how various factors influence their health behaviors, severity of medical conditions, lifestyle change and self-management of medical conditions, and technology adoption. The cHealth Compass tool, in addition to administering brief surveys to participants, can be used to quickly identify and recruit participants for research studies.

Based on a company’s objectives and areas of interest, study subjects may be invited to focus group discussions, one-on-one interviews, or participate in-person usability testing and feedback or other data collection activities.

The cHealth Compass team includes health care providers, research scientists, clinical psychologists, business analysts, developers and UI/UX experts with experience implementing connected health solutions across an array of technologies, platforms, patient populations and care settings.