Health records coming to iPhones through Apple partnership with major providers

Newswire: Jan. 24, 2018.

Dateline: Cupertino, Calif.

The next version of Apple’s iOS operating system for mobile devices will contain a feature allowing users to view their medical records on their iPhone or iPad. The feature went into effect Wednesday with the iOS 11.3 beta.

About a dozen healthcare providers are included in the update, and they all have one of three big electronic health record companies in common: Epic Corp, athenahealth, or Cerner Corp. They serve major providers like Johns Hopkins Medicine, Cedars-Sinai and Penn Medicine.

In a news release, Apple said it worked with the healthcare community to create its Health Records feature based on Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, the industry standard for transferring electronic health records.

Health Records will allow patients to view records regarding allergies and conditions, immunizations, lab results, medications (including prescriptions ordered and filled) medical procedures, and vitals data from clinical visits. The data is sourced through the existing patient portals providers make available for their patients to access online.

Apple’s announcement ensured that the data on the mobile device is encrypted and protected with the user’s passcode, which on later models of devices now includes biometric passcodes.

“By empowering customers to see their overall health, we hope to help consumers better understand their health and help them lead healthier lives,” Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer, said in a statement.

“Streamlining information sharing between patients and their caregivers can go a long way towards making the patient experience a positive one,” added Stephanie Reel, the chief information officer for Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The full list of healthcare providers is: