Apple HealthKit

Apple announces ‘HealthKit’ platform and new ‘Health’ app at WWDC 2014.
Image Credit: Dean Takahashi, venturebeat.com

As part of its new iOS 8 mobile operating system, Apple Inc has launched a new health app, called “Health,” and a cloud-based health information platform, called “HealthKit,” according to an article on venturebeat.com.

The announcement was made during Apple’s keynote address at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which runs from June 2 to 6, 2014.

The “Health” app will collect a number of body metrics including blood pressure, heart rate, and stats on diet and exercise, the article reported.

More from the article:

[sidebar width=”500″] Impressively, Health will constantly monitor key health metrics (like blood sugar or blood pressure), and if any of them begin to move outside the healthy range, the app will automatically send a notification to the user’s doctor.

The Health app will share all its information with a new cloud platform called “HealthKit.” The new health cloud platform is designed to act as a global repository for all the user’s health information. It will accept data collected by a variety of third-party devices and apps. For instance Nike is now working to makes its health and fitness apps integrate with HealthKit.

And Apple didn’t forget to loop in the health care system to participate in the new platform. The company worked with doctors at the Mayo Clinic to devise ways for health care providers to access and add to patient information in HealthKit.

Apple also has been working with the computer-based patient records company Epic, along with a large group of hospitals, to figure out how HealthKit data can be made available to hospital information systems.

[/sidebar]

The HealthKit APIs “provide the ability for health and fitness apps to communicate with each other,” according to a website announcement from Apple.

With user permission each app can collect and collate information from other apps to manage health and fitness. A blood pressure app could share its data with a physician app, such as the Mayo Clinic app, so your doctor can provide high-quality guidance and care, Apple reported.

“We believe Apple’s HealthKit will revolutionize how the health industry interacts with people,” Mayo Clinic president and CEO John Noseworthy, MD, said in the Apple news release. “We are proud to be at the forefront of this innovative technology with the Mayo Clinic app.”

More information is available at Apple’s website.