In the wake of promising results from a UC San Diego Health study of Apple Health Records users, patients across the entire University of California Health network are now being given the ability to download their medical data onto their Apple smartphones.
The move expands the access to Apple Health Records functionality to the nearly 5 million people annually who receive care at UC medical centers, including UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC San Diego and UCSF.
“Over the past decade, our patients have had increasing access to their own health data via electronic patient portals. Now, in an exciting transformation in health care, patients are shifting from simply accessing their health data to more directly managing and using it to improve their health and care,” wrote UC San Diego Health CIO Chistpher Longhurst and Aaron Neinstein from the UCSF Center for Digital Health Innovation in a blog post announcing the move.
Using Apple Health Records, UC Health patients can now access medications, lab results and other vital information, as well as integrate data from third party applications like glucose monitors and fertility tracking apps.
Additionally if patients receive care over multiple UC Health systems, the Apple Health Records app can be used as a central data collection and integration point.
Apple Health Records, which was launched early in 2018, looks to make medical records more easily accessible and portable for patients and has already attracted more than 130 health system partners.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Results from a small survey at UC San Diego has served to offer some initial proof points in the tech giant’s effort to boost the use of its portable record program and improve healthcare outcomes.
Nearly all (96 percent) respondents said it was easy to link their mobile device to the personal health record program and 90 percent said it facilitated better health information sharing and understanding of their health. A majority (78 percent) said that they were satisfied with using the feature.
Picture: UC Health
