In January, Apple unveiled plans to integrate patient health records into the iPhone's Health app, with an initial 12 hospitals piloting the new service.
To assess attitudes toward the project, KLAS Research interviewed executives from these 12 hospitals for a May report. The research firm asked the respondents — from organizations like Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger and Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine — about their experiences with the project thus far, along with their expectations down the line.
Overall, respondents reported high hopes for Apple's health records, with 59 percent indicating they expect to achieve benefits from the project within six months. The No. 1 reason executives cited for deploying Apple's health records was to give patients access to their data (75 percent), followed by using the tool as part of a patient engagement strategy (50 percent) and integrating data into patient care (33 percent).
"Participants say Apple is not overstating their case," the report reads. "Early participants say that Apple's move is not just a marketing ploy and that it has both short-term benefits and long-term potential to impact how provider organizations interact with patients and how patients manage their health."