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Mobile App for UNM Health Sciences Center to Support Its Statewide Healthy Aging Program
Summary
As part of the first statewide ICOPE initiative in the US, ScienceSoft developed Vive Bien/Live Well, a bilingual mobile app for UNM Health Sciences Center intended to help over 387,000 older adults across New Mexico complete preventive health checks at home.
About UNM Health Sciences Center
The UNM Health Sciences Center (UNM HSC) is New Mexico’s only academic medical center and a key provider of clinical care, medical education, and health research in the state. Its clinical delivery system includes New Mexico’s largest teaching hospital and serves a diverse population, including rural and underserved communities.
In 2024, the UNM HSC partnered with New Mexico’s Health Care Authority (HCA) to implement the World Health Organization's Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) program across the state. It’s the first statewide effort in the US to implement the WHO framework, designed to support healthy aging for more than 387,000 older adults in New Mexico.
As part of this initiative, the UNM HSC set out to develop a mobile application that would make preventive health checks more accessible to older adults. Many seniors in New Mexico have limited access to regular preventive screening, especially those living far from clinics or facing mobility, transportation, or other access barriers. The app had to help older adults check key aspects of their health at home, notice and document changes in their health, and feel more prepared for care conversations.
ScienceSoft was selected as a mobile app development partner to help the UNM Health Sciences Center turn the ICOPE-based assessment logic into a convenient, accessible, and secure digital tool for older adults.
Vive Bien/Live Well App Development
Launch-critical scope for the first release
Since the Vive Bien/Live Well app was developed as part of a grant-funded public health initiative, the first release required careful scope control. During the project, the feature set was revised and reprioritized several times to keep the app focused on the functionality needed for the statewide program launch. ScienceSoft worked with the UNM Health Sciences Center to preserve the app’s core value for older adults and the program team while avoiding unnecessary first-release complexity.
As a result, ScienceSoft developed an iOS and Android app that helps older adults complete ICOPE-based health checks at home and receive practical guidance on their results. The app covers seven health areas: memory and thinking, mobility, nutrition, emotional health, vision, hearing, and bladder health. It guides users from the initial assessment to more detailed checks, personalized recommendations, and a downloadable care plan they can share with a healthcare provider.
Clear mobile user journey
The user journey starts with the ICOPE Basic Assessment. If the results indicate possible concerns, the app offers optional in-depth assessments for the relevant health areas. Some checks are completed as questionnaires, while others rely on simple at-home activities or results from specialized tools. For vision and hearing, users can take checks in WHOeyes and hearWHO or use information from a clinical screening, then enter the results in Vive Bien/Live Well. The app saves assessment progress automatically, allowing users to return to unfinished checks later.
The UNM Health Sciences Center prepared the assessment and recommendation logic for the app. ScienceSoft translated UNM HSC’s algorithm schemes into application code and made sure the app applied the rules correctly across assessment scenarios.
Based on the assessment results, the app provides rule-based recommendations for each health area, grouped into three categories:
- Prevention: to help users with good results maintain their health and prevent deterioration.
- Maintenance: to guide users in improving a specific health area.
- Intervention: to direct users with concerning results toward scheduling an appointment with a healthcare provider.
After the assessments, the app generates a care plan with the user’s results, an overall summary, recommendations, personal details, and assessment date. Users can download the care plan as a PDF and bring it to a healthcare appointment if they choose to. They can also add a personal health goal for the next year based on their health check results.
Accessible experience for older adults
To make the app comfortable for older adults, ScienceSoft implemented English and Spanish language support, offline use, large fonts, high-contrast options, and clear navigation. For convenience and data minimization, the app automatically saves general assessment progress for up to two weeks and vision and hearing results for up to three months. The privacy information is written in plain language to help older adults and caregivers understand how the app handles user data.
Secure data handling
The app is based on AWS and uses security controls to protect user data, including encryption at rest and in transit and restricted access for authorized personnel. Since the exported dataset may contain identifiable information, such as user IDs and dates of birth, ScienceSoft also implemented controlled access to data export.
Efficient reporting for the program team
To support program reporting within the optimized first-release scope, ScienceSoft implemented a CSV export mechanism instead of a full-scale admin panel. When an authorized export is initiated, the system generates a download link to a file with user assessment data. The link is available only to the designated authorized user.
Vive Bien/Live Well release
Giselle Rodriguez de Sosa, MD, Research Assistant Professor at the UNM School of Medicine, says:
Vive Bien/Live Well is an important step in making preventive health checks more accessible to older adults across New Mexico. With the grant-funded nature of the initiative, we had to be very thoughtful about the first-release scope and make sure every feature supported the program launch. ScienceSoft was flexible throughout the project, helped us adapt the feature set as priorities evolved, and kept the development focused on the app’s core value for seniors and the program team. Thanks to this collaboration, we were able to launch a practical, secure, and easy-to-use mobile app that can support older adults on their healthy aging journey.
Key Outcomes for the UNM Health Sciences Center
- Delivery of a bilingual mobile app to support New Mexico’s first statewide implementation of the WHO Integrated Care for Older People framework.
- A convenient and senior-friendly digital tool that helps older adults complete preventive health checks at home and prepare for more informed conversations with healthcare providers.
- Optimized first-release scope for a grant-funded initiative through feature decomposition, reprioritization, and a focus on launch-critical functionality.
Technologies and Tools
AWS, PostgreSQL, AWS Lambda, React Native, Expo, TypeScript, ESLint, Node.js
