Apple And Healthcare – Match Made In Heaven
While there were only two months left for the most anticipated WWDC, 2014, there was incredible excitement and hype over one major union – iOS 8 and HealthBook (now HealthKit). Thus, Apple’s interest in healthcare was first established. Ever since then, Apple has been pushing deeper into the health business. While many tech giants, like Google and Intel, are also in the race, there are many reasons why Apple has managed to be healthcare’s top love interest.
iPhone’s Role And What Made HealthKit Possible
Undoubtedly, iPhone has been one of the most embraced Apple products by the healthcare industry. Doctors love Apple, which is why 85% physicians in the US are recorded as iPhone users. Ochsner Health System is southeast Louisiana’s largest non-profit healthcare provider. And theirs is a candid example of how iOS devices have improved the quality of life of their patients, why their doctors thank Apple and the endless scope of Apple’s intervention in healthcare has brought to them.
Apple’s primary health love – HealthKit was the first visible mobile healthcare venture which rose to fame only because of the iPhone. And this was possible due to Apple’s partnership with Mayo Clinic, powered by Epic Systems, along with iHealth Labs which helped Apple to pilot HealthKit.
HealthKit–Where The Journey Began
As hinted above, Apple’s health interest began with HealthKit. And HealthKit is nothing but a framework which collects data from various fitness and health apps, allowing you to easily access them through the Health apps. The best part is you can choose what kind of health data is recorded and with whom you’d want to share them. It has changed the whole idea of being fit. Now, it’s possible to squeeze in some time for your health anytime, anywhere and manage fitness like the pros.
The latest iOS updates have many wonderful enhancements, like reproductive health measurements for women, tracking your sedentary states, improving hydration and sleep and so much more. All of these have turned an iPhone into a health monitor and diagnostic medical device.
According to a study, over 70% of Americans are willing to buy health tracking devices if they’re clinically accurate. And, through HealthKit in iPhone and Apple Watch, Apple has managed to establish that trust factor and gain maximum traction in the healthcare market.
ResearchKit – A Step Ahead
With the success of HealthKit, Apple’s healthcare interest shifted to assist medical researches with the help of HealthKit. This was a breakthrough for medical professionals, scientists and research analysts, as they can now build apps that can access HealthKit to gather data from iPhone users.
This technology has helped researchers to communicate, access data, share and actively participate in research programs and studies, producing great medical insights and discoveries. Can you believe that within four days, My Heart Counts, a cardiovascular ResearchKit app by Stanford University School of Medicine, was downloaded 52,900 times?
mPower app, an exclusive research for Parkinson’s disease developed by University of Rochester and Sage BioNetworks, is one of the biggest breakthroughs of ResearchKit. The app aims to work towards studying and monitoring the Parkinson’s disease symptoms and looking for ways to improve the quality of life of their patients. Within six months of its launch in App store, out of 14,000 people who had downloaded it, it was found that almost 10%-15% were suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
ResearchKit is doing wonders through Autism & Beyond app. The app analyzes the emotional reactions of children through its front-facing HD camera. This helps in earlier detection of Autism as it can be effectively treated.
Similarly, ResearchKit is providing a wider scope to study and investigate more on Hepatitis C, Postnatal depression, Asthma, Diabetes and more through iPhone and Apple Watch.
CareKit –Helping people Understand Their Health Like No One Else
When Apple introduced CareKit, little did we know the depth of how much we can care for and take control of our health. CareKit is the latest open source framework which helps developers build medical care apps.
CareKit is highly effective for patients with on-going medical conditions or suffering from lack of proper medical care after post surgery. Listen to how technologies like CareKit could have saved lives like Joyce Oyler.
Joyce Oyler met her tragic death due to medication mistakes by a Missouri pharmacy and home health agency. Her daughter, who’s an oncology nurse, revealed how the poor transition from hospital to their home, lack of coordination and receiving wrong medication from pharmacists, hospital and homehealth agency, cost her mother’s life.
A study in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine discovered that half of patients had more than one clinically significant medication error within a few months after hospital discharge. Apple’s CareKit is specially designed for such scenarios where patients need specific medical attention. It allows doctors to constantly monitor and keep track of their patient’s medical progress.
People are not aware of the seriousness of such lapses and ignorance about sharing their health data with their doctors and keeping them in loop with their progress. Health apps designed using CareKit lets people take an active role in their health. CareKit is out with its first four HealthKit apps on April 28th, 2016. And it definitely hopes to create significant impact in the healthcare industry like ResearchKit.
The Journey Seems Unending
It seems like Apple is never satisfied with impressing healthcare with all of their awesome innovations. We know Apple is quite serious about their healthcare project, which is why they have tied up with many prominent healthcare providers, agencies, and companies to contribute and shape the healthcare industry.
Apple’s exclusive partnership with IBM for a cognitive computing platform like IBM Watson Health Cloud which offers a secure, open data storage health data for anyone with an iOS device. Apart from this, along with IBM’s analytics capabilities, there are wider possibilities to discover many solutions to a variety of health issues.
Furthermore, Apple teamed up with many more hospitals and healthcare providers like Stanford Hospitals, UCLA, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS and more.
Recently, Apple has hired Google X lab co-founder to work on their health projects. With this step, Apple proves time again that it has many more futuristic plans in shaping the healthcare industry.
Thus, through all these partnerships, acquisitions and mind blowing deals, Apple shows us that they’re constantly reinventing ways to bridge the gap between healthcare and technology. And this is possible only because their match was made in heaven!
Looking for more ways on how Apple’s innovations can help your business growth? Join our webinar about ‘How iOS Is Redefining Healthcare In 2016’ on Thursday, June 16th 2016 at 10am PST/1pm EST.