What You Should Know:
– CommonHealth has connected to 230 health systems in the United States, allowing patients to gather, manage and share their health and test data, including COVID test and vaccination status. By the end of this month, CommonHealth will connect to more than 340 health systems
– CommonHealth extends the health data portability and interoperability model pioneered by Apple Health to the 55 percent of Americans with Android devices (85 percent globally)
The Commons Project, a nonprofit public trust established to build digital platforms and services for the public good, today announced that the CommonHealth app has now connected to 230 health systems in the United States, allowing patients using those health systems to gather, manage and share personal health information – including COVID test and vaccine status – on Android devices for free. CommonHealth enables broader and more equitable participation in remote consultations with doctors, telemedicine, innovative care models, next-generation health services, and research.
CommonHealth App Development Background
Developed in collaboration with UCSF, Cornell Tech, and Sage Bionetworks with a team of clinicians, public health experts, technologists, scientists and privacy advocates, CommonHealth is operated by The Commons Project. CommonHealth was first deployed at UCSF Health and underwent substantial testing and user experience research in multiple diverse populations in San Francisco. CommonHealth is the first and only platform designed to allow users of the Android operating system to collect and manage their health data on their mobile devices in a similar way that Apple Health Record operates on iOS.
Already integrated with LabCorp, which operates one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the world, CommonHealth allows individuals to store their COVID test results and vaccination status, in addition to any health record. CommonHealth plans to integrate with an additional 110 health systems in December, connecting to more than 340 health systems before the year ends.
Earlier this year, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) rolled out new patient health record sharing rules that will require hospitals and physician offices to send standardized medical information, such as lab test results, vaccination records, and imaging tests, directly to third-party apps, like CommonHealth, by July 2021.
Why It Matters
“The COVID pandemic has accelerated the need for the safe sharing of health data as medical consultations go online and individuals are required to demonstrate COVID test and vaccination status in order to travel, work, study and undertake other social activities,” said JP Pollak, co-founder and chief architect at The Commons Project. “CommonHealth extends the privacy-centered data portability and interoperability model pioneered by Apple Health to the 55 percent of Americans who have Android devices.”
Availability
CommonHealth is a shared public service that is always free for users and is available for download on Android devices via Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thecommonsproject.android.phr
