Apple In Talks to Roll Out HealthKit to Medical Professionals Across U.S.

Apple is preparing to roll out its Healthkit development tools to health professionals across the U.S., and has been discussions with health providers at Mount Sinai, Cleveland Clinic, John Hopkins, and Allscripts to use the new system, reports Reuters.

Apple is said to be pushing Healthkit and its Health app as being an all-in-one solution for medical professionals to store patient data like blood pressure, pulse, and weight. Apple is also hoping that physicians will use the available data to improve diagnostics and treatment decisions. The company is also looking to partner with electronic health records provider Epic Systems to integrate its software and services.

healthimprovements
The article notes that Apple is likely to face challenges in the mobile health data field due to privacy and regulatory requirements. Apple's Health app and Healthkit development tools were originally introduced at this year's WWDC conference this past July. The Health app allows users to keep track and input several different health metrics measured by various devices, and can also allow an at-a-glance view of overall health with the aggregated data. The HealthKit tool for developers can be incorporated into health and fitness apps to access health data stored within the health app.

Both Health and HealthKit will be shipping as a part of Apple's new iOS 8 mobile operating system this fall.

Tag: Reuters

Top Rated Comments

jontech Avatar
112 months ago
I work in the medical field and it needs a company like apple to revolutionize some aspects of health care. Most systems are cumbersome and get in the way of health care professionals.

Let's hope apple can make a big difference and encourage others to do the same
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dragje Avatar
112 months ago
This will either be a huge success or a total flop.

That's the first thing I said when I met my current wife. :apple:
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
attila Avatar
112 months ago
Medical specialists will claim that that GUI will cause epilepsy.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
osofast240sx Avatar
112 months ago
Carrots contain caffeine?
Only if you dip it in coffee
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MarsViolet Avatar
112 months ago
I hope it doesn’t rely on iCloud for syncing and data integrity.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dave00 Avatar
112 months ago
It has enormous potential but it seems like they're focusing entirely on the wrong things. As a physician I care only minimally about things like caffeine consumption, but if the app would have their med list, health history, and copies of labs or other diagnostics, that would be huge, especially if a person were traveling and not seeing their regular doctor. I could see the med list tying in with a pharmacy app that could remind people to pick up their refills. Or a protocol-driven reminder system for health maintenance and routine follow-up. A list of how many steps were taken per day is kind of the last thing I'd want a person wanting to show me in the office.

EMR systems like Epic are so horrible not only because of the system itself, but because of "meaningful use" and all the federal requirements for documentation. Thus, the potential for Apple to improve it is limited. But, we'll see where things go.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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