Apple's HealthKit has been making waves in the health industry. The app is being tested in a number of the top hospitals around the United States as an effective way for doctors to monitor patients.
The goal of the test is to help patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, but could HealthKit really take a prominent place in the health industry?
"HealthKit's ability to aggregate data across activity, nutrition, and vitals through the user's wearables and sensors provides a new medium to supplement episodic data (in their EMR) for hospitals," said Ashkan Afkhami, vice president and general manager of healthcare at Mobiquity, in an email with Tech Times. "Physicians can now have a better sense of how their patients are doing on a day-to-day basis rather than once they walk into their four walls."
The iPhone has absolutely taken off, with millions of people now carrying around an Apple-branded rectangle in their pocket. It makes sense that industries such as the health industry would want to take advantage of this. In fact, it's a great idea.
However, there are obstacles to overcome with the concept. For example, some patients might not necessarily be open to handing over their personal information.
Another issue is the fact that not everyone owns or uses an iPhone. Google offers an alternative on Android with Google Fit, but it doesn't seem as though hospitals are currently testing Google Fit as a way to help patients. Despite this, the general consensus is that the testing with HealthKit is just that -- a test.
"HealthKit is for Apple devices; but Google Fit is providing the same experience on Android, and SAMI on Samsung Smartphones. HealthKit is an avenue to aggregate data and then push it to an external source," continued Afkhami. "These use-cases are just the beginning of a larger subset of opportunities that will be present once it has been proven and adopted by the large players (Kaiser, Geissinger, IronMountain, UPMC, etc.) the ACOs, and the regional hospitals."
The adoption of systems such as HealthKit and Google Fit could mean more than simply the easier tracking of chronic diseases. It could eventually change the health system in America. Insurers will have much better visibility of customers, potentially leading to a drop in insurance rates. In fact, some insurers are offering discounts in exchange for HealthKit data.
Oscar Health, for instance, is offering incentives to members to get them to use wearables and sensors to track their activity levels.
"Rather than providing them with $120 a year discount for joining a gym, they have clear visibility [of] who's doing what and where. This is a similar concept to Progressive's Snapshot solution, but for managing your health," Afkhami pointed
