Home / Improved FH Research and Care: A Multi-Study Platform

From a Single Study to a Multi-Study Platform

How we built a remote patient monitoring app for FH patients and then re-engineered it into a platform that can host many clinical studies at once.

Improving FH Diagnosis and Care with a Remote Patient Monitoring Platform

CaReHigh is Germany's leading patient registry for Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH), with over 4,000 participants. FH is a genetic disorder that raises LDL cholesterol and sharply increases the risk of early heart disease.

It affects around 1 in 313 people worldwide and an estimated 270,000 in Germany, yet fewer than 15% are diagnosed. CaReHigh's mission is to find these patients, track their disease course and close that gap through research and better care.

Before working with us, CaReHigh relied on traditional methods such as paper-based surveys and in-office data collection. These processes were slow, produced incomplete data and limited opportunities for patient engagement and family cascade screening.

CaReHigh wanted a solution that unified patient data, streamlined study workflows and gave patients the tools to take part in their own care. So we built a dedicated remote patient monitoring app, then re-engineered it into a platform that can host many studies at once.

Challenge

Fewer than 15% of FH patients in Germany diagnosed

Fragmented, paper-based research workflows

Single-study app could not scale to more studies

Solution

Patient-centric mobile app with UX/UI and MDR risk assessment

Backend re-engineered into a multi-study platform

Patient-ID identity with dynamic questionnaire flows

Outcome

One app now hosts many studies and not only FH

A reusable framework to add new studies without a rebuild

A validated FH monitoring app, live on iOS and Android

Chapter One: A Remote Patient Monitoring App for FH Patients

Patients had few tools to track their care or connect with the FH community, so many felt unsupported. The challenge was clear: how could CaReHigh improve research participation at scale?

To answer it, CaReHigh sought a partner with expertise in digital health and app development.

We mapped user needs, set the core features and drew up a clear plan for a monitoring app that would lift research participation and streamline cascade screening.

We ran UX workshops to learn how patients, researchers and clinicians would use the app. That set the scope: secure authentication, survey delivery through APIs and notifications to keep patients engaged.

Our team built the interface and backend, focusing on secure data and reliable survey delivery and ran a medical device regulations risk assessment.

Patients log biomarkers such as LDL-C and Lp(a) and their medication and answer baseline and follow-up questionnaires. Data is shared anonymously for research.

A Validated Tool Ready to Improve FH Research

Once development was complete, the app went through a comprehensive validation process. We ran quality assurance across secure authentication, survey integration through APIs and the notification system and refined usability through real-world testing with selected patients.

The result was a high-quality tool ready to improve survey participation, cascade screening and engagement among FH patients and their families.

Since launch, independent coverage has recognised the impact of the approach. In May 2026, the Deutsches Ärzteblatt reported that the online portal improves participation in cascade screening, the process that helps diagnose relatives of FH patients.

Chapter Two: Scaling from One Study into a Multi-Study Platform

The CaReHigh app began as a single-study tool for thousands of German FH patients. Its progressive approach, with digital questionnaires and biomarker tracking inside strict data-protection and regulatory rules, drew the attention of the German medical community and of other studies that wanted to reach many more patients with other conditions.

There was one problem. The app was built for one patient, one identifier, one email and one compliant database. It could not host multiple studies without being rebuilt. So we set out to re-engineer it.

Working with the CaReHigh team, their study partner and the database provider, we redeveloped the backend from the ground up into a multi-study platform.

Patients now sign in with a patient ID that maps them to the right study and database. They can join and switch between studies and get the right questionnaires in the right order for the full lifetime of each study.

Two smartphones showing the CaReHigh app: informational resources, news updates and family sharing on one screen and a daily activity and pain assessment survey on the other.

What We Rebuilt and How We Delivered

Multi-study architecture: one app now hosts many studies, each with its own compliant database.

Patient-ID identity model: IDs and not emails, identify patients, so one email can join several studies and onboarding stays simple.

Per-study databases and API: a new database API matches each study's own data.

Lifetime questionnaires: new registration and study-select flows deliver the right questionnaires in the right order.

Dynamic visits and forms: these update automatically from the API, so new studies slot in without a rebuild.

Per-study feature flags: each study toggles its own features and text lives in the backend so updates need no new app version.

The hardest part was mapping a single app state per account across user, account, ID, email, backend and database, while keeping the patient experience simple.

This took close coordination between the CaReHigh team, our developers, the study partner and the database provider, built on bonds from the original project.

In the end, the core build took about six months, inside a one-year programme that improved the live app in parallel. The platform is now in User Acceptance Testing ahead of rollout.

What does the Client say?

„With the CaRe High app, we have created a new digital channel for conducting follow-ups, collecting patient questionnaires and promoting patient empowerment. A milestone for the care of FH patients. The punktum team provided us with expert support from the initial idea to the launch in the app stores.

In joint workshops and on the basis of patient interviews, an intuitive UX/UI design was created that makes everyday study life noticeably easier. We are currently working together to further develop the app in order to automate processes even more. We value the collaborative partnership and the result we achieved together.”

Prof. Dr. med. Winfried März & Prof. Dr. Felix Fath, CaReHigh

Where to go from here?

With the multi-study platform in User Acceptance Testing, CaReHigh is ready to bring further studies onto the same app and reach many more patients without another rebuild. The reusable framework we baked into the new version means each new study can be added through configuration rather than custom development.

Next, the focus moves to automating more of the study workflow and onboarding new studies onto the platform. We are proud to keep working with CaReHigh to improve FH diagnosis rates and research quality across Germany and to give patients across conditions a seamless multi-study experience.