Health app on iPhone can help you organize your medical records
Chasing down medical records just might make you sick.
You visit one online patient portal to hunt for lab results. You log onto another caregiver’s site to check on your immunizations. Then there’s the specialist that performed your last medical procedure. Good luck getting the doc’s overtaxed staff to help out.
Apple hopes to address the disparate medical-records epidemic through an update to the Health Records section within the Health app on the iPhone, made available Thursday as part of the iOS 11.3 public beta software upgrade. The idea is that you can easily view all of your relevant medical records in one place, the iPhone (or iPod Touch).
Such records pertain to allergies, immunizations, vitals, test results, medications, procedures, conditions and so on.
Apple’s designs on cracking the digital health market are not new for the company, or the tech industry, for that matter. Alphabet (Google’s parent), Microsoft and Samsung have similar ambitions in the space.
Among its other initiatives, Apple has teamed with Stanford University School of Medicine on an ongoing study that uses the heart rate sensor inside the Apple Watch to collect data on irregular heart rhythms. Apple also pushes a developer platform known as HealthKit, which lets health and fitness apps share data.
That’s separate from what Apple is doing with the Health app on the iPhone. The current app includes data sections on nutrition, sleep, physical exercise and more. Those will remain. But the newer version promises a more complete and up-to-date picture of all (or most) of your health records.
Not an easy cure
The goal Apple is trying to solve is worthwhile, but the cure is not all that simple. Your medical records are indeed likely held across multiple hospitals, clinics or other wellness providers, not to mention in the offices of your own doctor. The technologies the various providers use are often incompatible.
“We’re all seeking ways to try to make the experience a better one for our patients. It’s already been a long road, and I think this is another step along the way,” Stephanie Reel, chief information officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said in an interview. Johns Hopkins is one of a dozen hospitals and clinics working with Apple on this initiative.
How many people with iPhones choose to ultimately store their records on the phone is an unknown. Reel says around 10% to 12% of the people that come through Johns Hopkins take advantage of Hopkins’ own patient portal.
Apple is also working with medical health records companies Epic Systems, Cerner and AthenaHealth.
How it works
I downloaded the iOS 11.3 beta onto an iPhone X loaner, but since none of the 12 health institutions are in my backyard or store my data, I could only go so far in testing the updated app. (Keep in mind that downloading beta software onto your primary phone comes with its own risks, so you may want to wait for the final version).
I did get a feel for how it will work. You navigate to the Health Records section of the app by tapping the Health Data icon at the bottom of the screen.
You can either search for a medical provider by hospital name, network or location, or choose from the provider list Apple surfaces. Tap the institution to select it. The first time doing so, you’ll have to sign in with your user ID and password for that institution, the same credentials you’d use for that hospital’s patient portal.
The promise is that having done so once, you won’t have to enter your credentials again. In that sense, using the app is like using email.
By default, the improved Health app will automatically look for updated medical records on a weekly basis, though you’ll be able to check more frequently or get notifications when new data arrives. No need to freak out; I’m told the notifications won’t reveal any private data. You’ll have to open the app to view the numbers.
It’s also quite possible that your doctors may withhold submitting certain records, at least until he or she gets a chance to go over the results with you.
Apple says that health records data goes directly from the medical provider to your phone — it doesn’t reside on Apple’s own servers. The data is encrypted while on your device and during the period in which it is transferred from the hospital to your handset.
So no, Apple can’t discover your cholesterol levels or learn that you suffer say from asthma.
You do have the option to store and back up your data in iCloud where it also remains encrypted.