Apple’s next move in healthcare is breaking down health record silos

New capabilities in Health Records help patients see medical records from multiple providers.

In an important step forward in the consumerization of healthcare, this week Apple introduced an update to its Health app, in iOS 11.3 preview, which allows individuals to access medical records on their iPhone.

Michael Batista, Medgadget June 7, 2018

Based on the FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standard, the company’s new Health Records API allows patient data from over 500 hospitals and clinics, including Johns Hopkins Medicine, Cedars-Sinai, and Penn Medicine, to be available through the Health app interface.

The move gives patients greater access and agency with personal health information by allowing individuals to share data from their health record with third party applications. The announcement noted that data shared is transferred directly from HealthKit to third party applications without touching Apple’s servers. This represents a move towards breaking down the traditional silos of medical record systems between which interoperability and data sharing has been an ongoing challenge.

“Medical information may be the most important personal information to a consumer, and offering access to Health Records was the first step in empowering them. Now, with the potential of Health Records information paired with HealthKit data, patients are on the path to receiving a holistic view of their health,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer. “With the Health Records API open to our incredible community of developers and researchers, consumers can personalize their health needs with the apps they use every day.”

Examples of personalized use cases highlighted in the announcement include medication tracking, disease management, and nutrition planning, as well as medical research which benefits from new data sharing opportunities between the Health Records API and ResearchKit. In a more specific example of the first use case, Apple also announced that medication management app Medisafe will connect with Health Records to allow prescription importing without manual entry.

Source Medgadget

Also see
Managing Your Health Records Should Be As Easy As Managing Your Money in Slate
WWDC: Industry experts praise Apple’s Health Records API in Computerworld
Apple announces effortless solution bringing health records to iPhone in Apple
Apple opens EHR data to iOS app developers in Mass Device
App Orchard in Epic
Google’s Masterplan for Healthcare in The Medical Futurist
Health IT Is On FHIR: Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources For Beginners in Forbes
How can I access and use epic EMR API? Where do I get it and its documentation? in Quora
Open.Epic: A (Not So Open) API in e-Care Management Blog
IBM/Apple Partnership – What it means for health and healthcare in IBM Healthcare & Life Sciences Industries Blog
A tale of two hospitals that adopted Apple’s Health Record app in Computerworld