It was announced earlier this month that Apple were launching their own healthcare and fitness app called HealthKit. The app is part of iOS8 and has the potential to communicate patient health data to hospitals and clinicians.
The idea behind all of this is Apple’s desire to be at the forefront of innovation and it seems healthcare is their latest choice. Apple have announced a partnership with the Mayo Clinic which is being touted as a potential pilot site for the new app.
In this model, clinicians can set parameters for metrics, heart rate/blood pressure etc, which could then be linked to the hospital if an abnormal reading is noted.
Apple also announced is was working with healthcare software firms to be able to integrate the HealthKit across a network of hospitals within the United States.
Clearly there are benefits to this model and to a patient-centric model being fostered by the use of technology. The collection of data will not only help patients but can be used to spur research and further development. But whose data is it? And what rights does the patient have? Will they be required to use HealthKit? Will they have a choice? And at whose consent is the data used?
Of course, with any revolutionary technology there will always be more questions than answers in the beginning and I think that there is likely to be varied opinions about the implementation process.
With the patient interest at heart this could be quite a useful tool.
Do you have an opinion? Will this work? Or is it simply a money making opportunity?
Send your thoughts to [email protected].