Your iPhone could soon be the only thing you will ever need to deal with all issues related to your health in future. That might seem a bit too outlandish at the moment given the severely fragmented medical landscape that we have become so used to over the course of time but Apple is making efforts to change all of that for once and all.
As per what Apple is aiming to achieve, all of your medical records – or for that matter, that of your family as well – containing details of lab visits, medical test results, and such would be available right at the tip of your finger on your iPhone.
However, no matter how convenient that might seem to be, achieving the same is no mean feat.
For the process has to start with making all health outlets within the US to agree to conform to a single protocol for information transfer. That again is perhaps the toughest part of the entire move though Apple is believed to have started the ball rolling already.
As per information currently available, Apple has initiated dialogue with hospitals and other industry groups within the healthcare sector. It also has on board developers that have experience with the FHIR protocol, one that facilitates the exchange of health records over electronic channels.
An insider from Apple’s top-secret health unit has hinted about the possibility of acquiring start-ups from the cloud hosting domain if those fit Apple’s immediate requirements.
Apple is also reported to be working with tech groups operating in the healthcare domain that too have a shared vision of data interoperability.
One of them happens to be ‘The Argonaut Project’. Similarly, ‘The Carin Alliance’ is another such group that is keen to see the patients have a decisive role in the way their records need to be controlled.
All of this is a far cry from the fairly rudimentary approach that Apple has had so far with user’s health. The best that its HealthKit app was known for was counting steps or heartbeat along with a few other aspects.
However, Apple seems to have prioritized its approach towards health off late. Its recent acquisition of Beddit that develops sleep tracking monitors should be ample proof of that. Plus, the company is also working towards developing non-invasive means of tracking blood sugar levels, something that too none has ever achieved before.
