Reuters
- Apple is expanding its health app to include information from medical records.
- That way, iPhone users can track everything from allergies to vaccines to lab results.
- It's a big move to get patients their electronic health records, something companies have been trying for years that hasn't taken off.
Along with photos from your recent vacation and your music library, your iPhone will soon be able to store your medical information.
The hope is that by storing all your information - like when you last got a vaccination, your lab results, or which treatments you've been prescribed - it will give doctors a fuller picture of your health and, in turn, lead to better care.
Doctors already have access to some information. Electronic health records allow doctors to get some data about your medical history. But they don't get it all - like information from an emergency room visit in another state, or notes from telemedicine appointments.
The information will be stored under Health Records within the Health app on the iPhone. Here's what it looks like:
Apple
"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 COO Jeff Williams said in a news release.
Apple isn't the first tech company to try this. Google Health had built a personal health information service, but the project was shut down in 2011. Health IT giant Epic Systems operates a service called MyChart that helps patients see their information and communicate with doctors. There are also services that will store your personal health information though these are mainly managed by patients instead of doctors.
To start, Apple's Health Records will roll out to patients at certain medical facilities, with more joining in over the next few months. Here's the initial list:
- Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore
- Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles
- Penn Medicine in Philadelphia
- Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania
- UC San Diego Health in San Diego, California
- UNC Health Care In Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- Rush University Medical Center in Chicago
- Dignity Health in Arizona, California and Nevada
- Ochsner Health System in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
- MedStar Health in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia
- OhioHealth in Columbus, Ohio
- Cerner Healthe Clinic in Kansas City, Missouri
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