Fourteen of the top major U.S. hospitals are piloting their own trails of Apple’s HealthKit platform, Reuters reports. Apple’s HealthKit platform serves as an serve as an integrative hub for patient-generated health information like blood pressure, weight, heart rate, calorie burn or sleep activity with third party apps. Users can decide what information is placed in HealthKit and which apps can access their data through the Health app. Apple’s rivals, Google and Samsung which have released similar services has failed to quickly penetrate the healthcare market through establishing pilots with hospitals and medical partners.
Ochsner Health’s Epic EHR Integrates with Apple HealthKit
Last fall, Ochsner Health System based in New Orleans, La., announced it was the first Epic Systems client to successfully integrate its EHR with the new Apple HealthKit. Patients can access their lab results, appointment information, current medications, immunization history, and more to improve their own health.
“If we had more data, like daily weights, we could give the patient a call before they need to be hospitalized,” said Chief Clinical Transformation Officer Dr. Richard Milani.
Last summer, Apple launched the HealthKit platform with Mayo Clinic, Epic Systems and Nike as strategic partners. Since then, both Mayo Clinic and Epic Systems have rolled out health apps with HealthKit integration. Apple’s HealthKit integration with Epic’s MyChart app patient portal provides patients access to their health information. Approximately 53 percent of Americans have their medical records within the Epic EHR, and its MyChart application is the most used patient portal in the United States.
Since the announcement, Duke and Stanford university announced they were launching diabetic and chronic disease medical trials using HealthKit. Stanford University Hospital medical trials is focused on diabetes that will allow physicians to track diabetic children blood sugar levels. Meanwhile, Duke University’s medical trail will be using the HealthKit platform to track blood pressure, weight and other measurements for patients diagnosed with cancer or heart disease.
The company has also hired Rana and John Halamaka, who serve as informal industry advisors focused on health data privacy and integration. To date, over 600 app developers have integrated their health and fitness apps with Apple HealthKit.