The January Apple update has allowed users to access medical records through the Health app on their iPhones. They have partnered with 12 hospitals and clinics, as well as HER vendors Cerner and Epic to establish Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) for the transfer of medical records. Read more on the initial launch or the 12 original adopters.
More recently, 27 healthcare providers have decided to start sharing information with patients in this way, including NYU Langone Health, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, Adventist Health System, and Stanford Medicine. Dignity Health, a 39-hospital system, was a part of the beta test launch and has called the Health Records app a “pretty awesome experience.”
Many see Apple’s success as a first step toward a disruptive change in the US Healthcare system, and others see a variety of applications for this technology. Speculations aside, experts in healthcare IT and digital innovation find it highly unlikely that health systems will not participate in this transition. Read more here.