Today, Apple announced a new feature as part of the iOS 11.3 beta update for customers to see their medical records right on their iPhone. Johns Hopkins Medicine, Cedars-Sinai, Penn Medicine and other participating hospitals and clinics are among the first to make this beta feature available to their patients.
Traditionally, patients’ medical records were held across multiple locations, requiring patients to log into each care provider’s website via a patient portal and painstakingly piece together the information manually.
The new feature will now allow consumers to have medical information from various institutions organized into one view covering allergies, conditions, immunizations, lab results, medications, procedures and vitals, and will receive notifications when their data is updated. Health Records data is encrypted and protected with the user’s iPhone passcode.
The new Health Records section is available to the patients of the following medical institutions as part of the iOS 11.3 beta:
· Johns Hopkins Medicine – Baltimore, Maryland
· Cedars-Sinai – Los Angeles, California
· Penn Medicine – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
· Geisinger Health System – Danville, Pennsylvania
· UC San Diego Health – San Diego, California
· UNC Health Care – Chapel Hill, North Carolina
· Rush University Medical Center – Chicago, Illinois
· Dignity Health – Arizona, California and Nevada
· Ochsner Health System – Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
· MedStar Health – Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia
· OhioHealth – Columbus, Ohio
· Cerner Healthe Clinic – Kansas City, Missouri
“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,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s COO in a statement. “By empowering customers to see their overall health, we hope to help consumers better understand their health and help them lead healthier lives.”
Apple also anticipates more medical facilities connect to Health Records offering their patients access to this feature.
