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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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healthkit-logo.png
Duke University, Stanford University Hospital, and medical device manufacturers are working with Apple on patient trials involving Apple's new HealthKit API, reports Reuters. Apple mentioned the trials in its recent September press event, but did not provide any details on the health parameters or patient groups being studied.

Speaking to Reuters, Duke University's Ricky Bloomfield, internal medicine pediatrician and director of mobile strategy, confirmed the research institution will use HealthKit to track vital health parameters such as blood pressure and weight for patients with cancer or heart disease. iOS 8's HealthKit API will gather this health-related information from a variety of sources and compile it so patients and doctors can easily view this information in one place.
"This could eliminate the hassle of getting data from patients, who want to give it to us," said Bloomfield, "HealthKit removes some of the error from patients' manually entering their data."
Stanford Children's Chief Medical Information Officer Christopher Longhurst confirmed that the research hospital will be monitoring Type 1 diabetes patients, who will be sent home with an iPod touch and instructed to enter blood sugar levels in between doctor visits. Two patients already are enrolled in the trial.

Besides doctors, medical device makers are interested in HealthKit, taking advantage of HealthKit's ability to gather medical information from a device and share it with an iOS app. Apple already announced it has electronic health record software vendor Epic Systems as a HealthKit partner. Many other manufacturers, such as glucose monitor company Dexcom, are interested in HealthKit and are in talks with Apple and the FDA about adopting the technology.

Apple has made clear it views HealthKit as an important aspect of iOS 8 and upcoming devices such as the Apple Watch, in line with the company's emphasis on enriching the lives of users through innovation in technology. That vision, however, will take some time to develop as Apple continue its own work and relies on partners to help support the effort going forward.

Article Link: Duke and Stanford Begin Patient Trials With Apple's HealthKit Service
 

liavman

macrumors 6502
Sep 22, 2009
462
0
Same here. I first read it as patent trial. ;)

May be the title should be
Duke and Stanford Begin Live Trials With Apple's HealthKit Service
 

3282868

macrumors 603
Jan 8, 2009
5,281
0
If only this had a non-invasive method to monitor blood glucose levels. A tough cookie to crack, and get approval, but if any company could do it, my bets on Apple.
 

IJ Reilly

macrumors P6
Jul 16, 2002
17,909
1,496
Palookaville
The healthcare system is a hugely complicated mess, so it's interesting to see that Apple apparently sees more opportunity here than in TV.
 

jayducharme

macrumors 601
Jun 22, 2006
4,513
5,925
The thick of it
They should have given the patients an Apple Watch instead of iPod Touch. Seems like that would have been a better beta test.

Also, I know Tim is very interested in fitness. But I wonder how much of this HealthKit push was driven by what happened to Steve Jobs, who probably wouldn't have died if he had more accurate information about his health early on (and had taken appropriate action).
 

840quadra

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 1, 2005
9,253
5,966
Twin Cities Minnesota
They should have given the patients an Apple Watch instead of iPod Touch. Seems like that would have been a better beta test.

Considering the watch hasn't passed FCC regulation phase of development, I doubt that the organizations would want to test that, and there may even be legal issues in doing so.
 

dwman

macrumors 6502
Nov 15, 2007
359
153
San Francisco
Since Apple had had talks with FDA, one wonders if the iPhone is going to have to be cleared as a medical device if it's going to measure things like blood glucose levels.


As far as gathering your personal medical info, that's fraught with tons of peril.

EDIT: The app measuring those levels would have to cleared, not the phone itself. FDA has has no intention of regulatory general use products like iPhones, iPads, computers, etc., since the manufacturers of those products won’t market the product as a medical device.
 

\-V-/

Suspended
May 3, 2012
3,153
2,688
I can honestly say the health aspect of the Apple presentation was what got me the most excited. Seems kind of silly, but it has a lot of potential.
 

Keirasplace

macrumors 601
Aug 6, 2014
4,059
1,278
Montreal
The healthcare system is a hugely complicated mess, so it's interesting to see that Apple apparently sees more opportunity here than in TV.

Profit margins are certainly better in healthcare and as you say, there's a lot more to be done there than reinventing something that sort of works OK right now, like TV.
 

HishamAkhtar

macrumors 6502a
Oct 22, 2011
510
1
They should have given the patients an Apple Watch instead of iPod Touch. Seems like that would have been a better beta test.

Also, I know Tim is very interested in fitness. But I wonder how much of this HealthKit push was driven by what happened to Steve Jobs, who probably wouldn't have died if he had more accurate information about his health early on (and had taken appropriate action).

Pretty sure Steve had all the information available but just refused to have surgery/go with conventional medical management.
 

The Mercurian

macrumors 68020
Mar 17, 2012
2,153
2,440
They should have given the patients an Apple Watch instead of iPod Touch. Seems like that would have been a better beta test.

Also, I know Tim is very interested in fitness. But I wonder how much of this HealthKit push was driven by what happened to Steve Jobs, who probably wouldn't have died if he had more accurate information about his health early on (and had taken appropriate action).

I often wonder if Steve's diagnosis and death is driving Apple into the health sector. Perhaps directed by Steve himself before he died, perhaps by Tim after - or a bit of both. Regardless - they can only improve the sector as health IT is abysmal. I'm also excited about what Apple and IBM might do for the health sector given their partnership. I'm pretty sure this is one of the areas where such a partnership could revolutionise things.
 

smithrh

macrumors 68030
Feb 28, 2009
2,722
1,730
FDA most certainly will get involved on the hardware side when the watch collects anything past pulse rate. Glucose levels, SpO2, etc - all trigger points for the FDA to require a 501k.

However, since the watch won't last (apparently anyways) a full 24 hours, and given that people don't generally wear a watch for that long anyways, I'm thinking like HomeKit, this is Apple's way of getting other device manufacturers to install data transmission capabilities into their devices. Basically the internet of things as applied to health monitoring.

That way, they escape the 501k approval process, yet they still become the home or personal hub for the measurements. Scales, BP machines, thermometers, Holter monitors et al - the data from those devices can managed in one easy way. Device manufacturers might like it as they'd have another generation of devices to sell.

Personally, I'm at a fairly high level of unease about the ramifications behind all of this. I can't really put my finger on why, but overall there seems to be a potential for abuse.
 

drnickyboy

macrumors newbie
Sep 15, 2014
1
0
what company developed all this technology?

Anyone know? This seems like potentially cutting edge stuff. I cant imagine it was Apple itself. Seems they are partnering with someone.
 

cerebra1

macrumors member
Sep 12, 2014
57
43
Personally, I'm at a fairly high level of unease about the ramifications behind all of this. I can't really put my finger on why, but overall there seems to be a potential for abuse.

Certainly true for almost all transformative technologies. This feeling alone should be evidence for the huge potential Apple has here.

I work in healthcareIT, specifically with the transfer of information between provider facilities, and everyone initially has an unease with doing this differently, with utilizing technology differently than they have in the past. Security, privacy, workflow...etc.

But the potential for change, once enacted and the bumps are ironed out, is huge. EMR technology can greatly improve patient care, and this kind of technology, where data (high quality) comes from the patient to the provider, could be huge as well.

With the partnership with IBM in the back of my mind, I wonder if this isn't the next frontier Apple is moving into. Will this industry see the next iDevice/AppleDevice after the apple watch?
 

kenroberts83

macrumors regular
Apr 2, 2012
159
0
Now if only the FDA would stop trying to regulate the iPhone as a medical device, they could probably do far more.
 

The Mercurian

macrumors 68020
Mar 17, 2012
2,153
2,440
With the partnership with IBM in the back of my mind, I wonder if this isn't the next frontier Apple is moving into. Will this industry see the next iDevice/AppleDevice after the apple watch?

Lol - I also work in related areas and am wondering the same thing about Apple/IBM partnership as I said above I have little doubt they are working on an EHR system with IBM back-end and Apple front-end.
 

clukas

macrumors 6502a
May 3, 2010
990
401
This is all nice, however the problem here is that this would be truly revolutionary if it was used at scale. I suspect that this will only be used by a select few Hospitals / Doctor practices. I dont expect to be able to use this with my local doctor anytime soon.
 
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