Diabetes and Apple's HealthKit

Notwithstanding HealthKit’s aborted launch due to a software bug, digital health companies have jumped at the opportunity to integrate their products with Apple’s HealthKit, a hub of personal health data that consumers can display in Apple’s new Health app in iOS 8. Many are betting that the tech giant has the clout and reach to make Health an indispensable tool for patients looking to engage with their doctors outside the clinic. “It’s going to be the biggest health release ever,” says Daniel Kivatinos, a founder of electronic health record provider drchrono.

It might take some time for doctors still struggling with electronic health records to widely accept the deluge of data HealthKit brings, but many companies don’t want to be caught flat-footed. Soon after Apple announced HealthKit in June, HealthLoop went to work to integrate its software. The start-up allows doctors to check in with their patients between visits, especially post surgery, to follow their progress. Patients who underwent joint replacement, for example, can now opt to share with their doctors who prescribe HealthLoop, the number of steps they took or their temperature from trackers and blue-tooth enabled devices uploaded through HealthKit.  A lack of activity or a spike in fever, can prompt a clinician to intervene. “HealthLoop is able to wrap these streams of biometric data with clinical context,” says Jordan Shlain, founder of HealthLoop and a practicing internist.

The application of biometric data in a defined clinical context, such as hypertension or diabetes, is critical in determining the success of monitoring devices with health care providers, as well as patients who are motivated to engage because of illness. “If data comes in and is not actionable, no one is going to bother,” says Michael Blum, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and director of its Center for Digital Health Innovation, which validates tracking devices in a clinical setting.

iHealth Labs, a subsidiary of Chinese medical equipment company Andon Health, which Apple chose as a partner to pilot HealthKit, sells FDA-approved wireless blood pressure and glucose monitors, among other tracking tools. Data from blood pressure cuffs are uploaded onto mobile devices, such as the iPhone and iPad, and are currently used in clinical studies at UCSF, and the VA Medical Center in San Francisco.

iHealth’s chief marketing officer Jim Taschetta says Apple introduced the company to electronic health records vendors Epic Systems and UK-based EMIS Group, as well as Stanford University, and Duke Medicine. To test HealthKit, Duke incorporated readings from iHealth blood pressure monitors into its Epic patient portal. Epic has integrated its MyChart with HealthKit, but it is up to its customers to decide whether they want to enable sharing. Taschetta is encouraged to see a handful of health care leaders adopt HealthKit. “The odds are in our favor to see widespread adoption,” he says.

Other companies tying into HealthKit include electronic health record providers Cerner, drchrono, and athenahealth.