Get Real Health’s CEO and founding partner Mark Heaney believes that in a remarkably short time, with developments like Apple’s HealthKit, smartphones could soon become the “Medical Information Bracelet 2.0.” Get Real Health envisions a world where InstantPHR® and HealthKit work in tandem, with InstantPHR using data gathered by HealthKit to display information for patients and clinicians.
Heaney believes connections to providers’ data systems could pre-populate critical data for patients. However, doing so would rely on provider organizations engaging with vendors that must direct their focus on getting data to patients, instead of simply treating it as an afterthought.
HealthKit features like “Medical ID” allow users to make specific information available from their lock screens, so their health information can be easily accessed if they are incapacitated. “Medical ID” allows you to include existing conditions, medical notes, allergies, medications, emergency contacts, height and weight, blood type and even organ donor selection.
Any way you look at it, the most important features are those that could be populated from an electronic medical record (EMR). This flow of data from InstantPHR to HealthKit will revolutionize the field of Health IT. It’s all about the ease and accessibility of creating data flow for patients where there is less room for error and a greater likelihood of engagement. It’s likely that in a couple of years, every smartphone will come with a built-in health information feature to facilitate health information exchange between doctors and patients as well as emergency responders.