Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is in discussions major healthcare providers regarding the usefulness of HealthKit, its health and fitness tracking app, according to report from Reuters based on information familiar with the situation.
The report indicated that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) aims to make the HealthKit as the central hub of health data. The Cupertino-based tech giant underscores the fact that the app collects health data such as weight, heart rate and blood pressure and allows patients and doctors to see it in one place.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) believes that HealthKit would be useful for doctors to better monitor the health of their patients using the data collected by the app (with consent) between visits. The health data also allows doctors to make better diagnosis and treatment decisions for their patients.
According to the sources, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is discussing the HealthKit with the Cleveland Clinic, John Hopkins and Mount Sinai. The tech giant is also in talks with Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:MDRX), a clinical, financial, connectivity and information solutions and related professional services provider to hospitals, physicians and post-acute organizations.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) introduced HealthKit during the WWDC 2014 event in June. The company did not reveal a more specific detail regarding its plan for the app. The HealthKit is expected to be integrated in the iPhone 6, which will be coming out next month.
Skip Snow, a healthcare analyst at Forrester Research commented, “Apple is going into this space with a data play. They want to be a hub of health data.”
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) recently announced a partnership with Epic Systems, Nike (NYSE:NKE) and Mayo Clinic, which is currently testing a service to alert patients when the results from apps and devices are abnormal. The healthcare provider will then follow-up the information and provide treatment recommendation to the patient.
A person briefed by the tech giant indicated that the personal health record of Epic called MyChart will be integrated with the health and fitness data from HealthKit. Many of the health systems using Epic software will soon benefit from the health data.
Morgan Reed, an executive director of ACT, an organization representing mobile app developers opined that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) could face regulatory challenges regarding some of the implementations of the HealthKit. He said, “Everybody is knocking on the door. But I doubt that HealthKit will merge with all the existing systems.”
