Apple's iOS Health Records features is now supported by over 75 institutions

[Matrix]

Recap: Earlier this year, Apple introduced an interesting new feature with iOS 11.3 that allowed users to access their medical records on an iPhone. The initial beta saw it supported by 12 US medical institutions. Now, that number has increased to over 75.

Apple updated its list of hospitals and other healthcare institutions that support the iPhone’s Health Records ahead of a speech by its Clinical and Health Informatics Lead Ricky Bloomfield, M.D. As reported by EHR Intelligence, the talk took place at the NC 2nd Interoperability Forum.

The Health Records platform is based on FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources), a standard, which won’t be finalized until the end of the year, for transferring electronic medical records. With Apple’s supporting of FHIR, it could encourage more medical practitioners to adopt it.

“What we’ve seen is that by adopting the Argonaut implementation guide — which is a more constrained implementation of FHIR — adoption will be greater and far easier for those who wish to adopt this,” said Bloomfield.

For those worried about the security implications of accessing medical records on an iPhone, Apple says the data does not pass through any of its servers; instead, the device makes a direct and secure connection to the medical facility for sending and receiving info.

The Health Records app collates a person’s existing online health records and organizes them into seven different categories: allergies, clinical visits, conditions, immunizations, lab results, medications, and procedures. All of which makes medical records easier to access and understand. Moreover, the data is updated automatically after you visit a doctor.

 

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