12 US healthcare providers pledge support for Apple's Health Records in iOS 11.3, includin...

AppleInsider

This spring's debut of iOS 11.3 will give hospitals and clinics greater access to Apple's Health app, allowing them to share data and send alerts to patients. So far, a dozen U.S. hospitals have pledged support for Health Records.

The full list of hospitals that will participate in the iOS 11.3 Health Records feature are:

• Johns Hopkins Medicine - Baltimore, Md.
  
• Cedars-Sinai - Los Angeles, Calif.
  
• Penn Medicine - Philadelphia, Penn.
  
• Geisinger Health System - Danville, Penn.
  
• UC San Diego Health - San Diego, Calif.
  
• UNC Health Care - Chapel Hill, N.C.
  
• Rush University Medical Center - Chicago, Ill.
  
• Dignity Health - Arizona, California and Nev.
  
• Ochsner Health System - Jefferson Parish, La.
  
• MedStar Health - Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia
  
• OhioHealth - Columbus, Oh.
  
• Cerner Healthe Clinic - Kansas City, Mo.

Apple has also launched a website for healthcare providers, where they can get more information on how the Apple Health app can enhance patient care.

The new Health Records feature coming in iOS 11.3 will enable providers to share data and results with patients more easily. In turn, consumers will be able to see available medical data from multiple providers in one place.

The iOS 11.3 update will allow users to receive regular notifications for lab results, medications, conditions and more. The data is encrypted and protected with a passcode.

Records stored in the Health app can include a list of allergies, clinical vitals, immunizations, lab results, procedures, and more. It also shows users a list of data sources and provides quick access to patient portals from healthcare providers.

In announcing Health Records, Apple said it has worked with the healthcare community to offer a consumer-friendly approach. Health Records are based on Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, a standard for transferring electronic medical documents.

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"Our goal is to help consumers live a better day. We've worked closely with the health community to create an experience everyone has wanted for years -- to view medical records easily and securely right on your iPhone," Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams said. "By empowering customers to see their overall health, we hope to help consumers better understand their health and help them lead healthier lives."

iOS 11.3 is available in beta form to developers starting Wednesday, and will launch in a public beta soon after. Apple has promised that more medical facilities will connect to Health Records in the coming months.

"Streamlining information sharing between patients and their caregivers can go a long way towards making the patient experience a positive one," said Stephanie Reel, Chief Information Officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine. "This is why we are excited about working with Apple to make accessing secure medical records from an iPhone as simple for a patient as checking email."

The Apple Health app and accompanying HealthKit tools for developers were first introduced in 2014 with iOS 8. It has subsequently been expanded with ResearchKit tools for researchers, and CareKit to enable apps providing personal care.

Apple Health also works with Apple Watch, allowing vital signs to be recorded and even spotting potential medical concerns from the wrist-worn device.

"Putting the patient at the center of their care by enabling them to direct and control their own health records has been a focus for us at Cedars-Sinai for some time," said Darren Dworkin, Chief Information Officer at Cedars-Sinai. "We are thrilled to see Apple taking the lead in this space by enabling access for consumers to their medical information on their iPhones. Apple is uniquely positioned to help scale adoption because they have both a secure and trusted platform and have adopted the latest industry open standards at a time when the industry is well positioned to respond."

StrangeDays

This is really intriguing. I switched GPs because the old one couldn't do electronic records and the new one was a bigger hospital that used the MyChart system, which includes digital test results in-app. I doubt the hospitals will switch from MyChart to Health Records, but I hope MyChart supports it.

rob53

StrangeDays said:

This is really intriguing. I switched GPs because the old one couldn't do electronic records and the new one was a bigger hospital that used the MyChart system, which includes digital test results in-app. I doubt the hospitals will switch from MyChart to Health Records, but I hope MyChart supports it.

MyChart is from Epic and Epic has previously announced cooperation with Apple, (old article) https://venturebeat.com/2014/09/17/ehr-giant-epic-explains-how-it-will-bring-apple-healthkit-data-to-doctors/, so I am also hoping Apple and Epic can work things out so consumers and hospital employees can have a better and easier way to use Epic.

foggyhill

This is were Apple striving for privacy and security and having an integrated sw / hw will pay off.

This alone will provide one hell of a differentiating factor and it will be very hard for the crowd of Android OEM + Android of millions of vintages to offer the same garantees.

People don't realize how very very large the health industry is in the US.

GeorgeBMac

I trust Apple with my data. While nothing is 100% secure, Apple provides the best security available -- particularly since they won't sell it to the highest bidder...

But, what I don't trust is the accuracy of my medical record. It is filled with erroneous and obsolete diagnosis -- partly because a physician made a mistake or simply guessed -- and partly because physicians always need to find something wrong so they can bill insurance for the visit or a test. So, if you don't have anything they can bill for, they make something up or exaggerate something minor.

So, I maintain my own (paper) record trail and release it to physicians on a selective basis -- so they have accurate and pertinent information.

Hopefully Apple recognizes that that is MY data, MY information and "lets" me control it -- not only that I control who sees it but what they see -- and what is actually in that record...

The old acronym GIGO is alive and well...   Raw data is somewhere between useless and dangerous.

nht

GeorgeBMac said:

I trust Apple with my data. While nothing is 100% secure, Apple provides the best security available -- particularly since they won't sell it to the highest bidder...

But, what I don't trust is the accuracy of my medical record. It is filled with erroneous and obsolete diagnosis -- partly because a physician made a mistake or simply guessed -- and partly because physicians always need to find something wrong so they can bill insurance for the visit or a test. So, if you don't have anything they can bill for, they make something up or exaggerate something minor.

So, I maintain my own (paper) record trail and release it to physicians on a selective basis -- so they have accurate and pertinent information.

Hopefully Apple recognizes that that is MY data, MY information and "lets" me control it -- not only that I control who sees it but what they see -- and what is actually in that record...

The old acronym GIGO is alive and well...   Raw data is somewhere between useless and dangerous.

Sooo, when you go to the hospital who is suppose to carefully filter who sees what part of your paper medical record?  And even assuming you’re in condition to do so, how do you know what’s “pertinent”?

Removing erroneous and obsolete information from your record is important.  Electronic form on your phone or cloud in a widely compatible format that you can review and have fixed if wrong is the way to go.

gatorguy

foggyhill said:

This is were Apple striving for privacy and security and having an integrated sw / hw will pay off.

This alone will provide one hell of a differentiating factor and it will be very hard for the crowd of Android OEM + Android of millions of vintages to offer the same garantees.

People don't realize how very very large the health industry is in the US.

Privacy and security is not an issue with health records stored with Google as both can be guaranteed and certified which is a requirement for HIPAA compliance AFAIK. Last I knew Apple Cloud services would not offer a guarantee of HIPAA compliance so perhaps the Apple health records are actually stored with a 3rd party health care partner/provider, or maybe HIPAA doesn't come into play with the way it's been setup?  
https://cloud.google.com/security/compliance/hipaa/

Integration? I have no idea what effect that will have and it may be a lot or little at all, but IMHO there's no doubt Apple will put the bigger public face on it and have a unified interface for patients which carries a lot of weight. 

With that said I don't see where Google is putting much work into apps for patient record storage like Apple has. The two companies have differing health goals, but deserved kudos to Apple for Health Record's. 

GeorgeBMac

nht said:

GeorgeBMac said:

I trust Apple with my data. While nothing is 100% secure, Apple provides the best security available -- particularly since they won't sell it to the highest bidder...

But, what I don't trust is the accuracy of my medical record. It is filled with erroneous and obsolete diagnosis -- partly because a physician made a mistake or simply guessed -- and partly because physicians always need to find something wrong so they can bill insurance for the visit or a test. So, if you don't have anything they can bill for, they make something up or exaggerate something minor.

So, I maintain my own (paper) record trail and release it to physicians on a selective basis -- so they have accurate and pertinent information.

Hopefully Apple recognizes that that is MY data, MY information and "lets" me control it -- not only that I control who sees it but what they see -- and what is actually in that record...

The old acronym GIGO is alive and well...   Raw data is somewhere between useless and dangerous.

Sooo, when you go to the hospital who is suppose to carefully filter who sees what part of your paper medical record?  And even assuming you’re in condition to do so, how do you know what’s “pertinent”?

Removing erroneous and obsolete information from your record is important.  Electronic form on your phone or cloud in a widely compatible format that you can review and have fixed if wrong is the way to go.

LOL... The best way to stay healthy is to stay out of the hospital.  Few people over 60 come out of those places healthier than they went in.   So I work hard making sure that I stay out of hospitals.  And along with that:  Using a healthy lifestyle, I stay healthy enough (knock on wood!) that there would be nothing to report to a hospital a hospital anyway.

As for correcting the record, that seems to be pretty much impossible.  I've tried multiple times. 
Part of the trouble is that, historically, providers have viewed the medical record as THEIR PROPERTY.  They own it.  They control it.   That's changing.   But the old ways die hard.

NotRight!

The one provider that was available had the wrong medication and I haven’t seen in several years. None of the Southwest Ohio groups were on there. Like UC Health, Premier Health, or Kettering Health Network. I can see were it would be beneficial if you have seizures or other conditions and say wear an Apple Watch. But not if your network isn’t even available.