Dive Brief:
- New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System has become the first health system to link an Epic EMR with Apple's HealthKit platform, a step that should make it possible for Epic installations across its six hospitals to share data.
- The health system will link aggregate consumer data from varied health applications into its Epic EMR. Previously, the health system relied on patients to log information and bring it to Ochsner, which it would then have to input it again.
- Integrating HealthKit with multiple systems has been challenging, as IT staffers have had to build their own interfaces to get the data into the EMR. But now that they've seen some early success—like a beta test involving 100 heart failure patients that brought down readmissions 40%—they're eager to move forward with other populations, officials noted.
Dive Insight:
Ochsner is able to connect its Epic EMR to apps bearing consumer information by using HealthKit as a middleman. On the one end, patients access the Epic MyChart patient portal, which gives them controlled access via browser or mobile app to the same Epic medical records their doctors use. HealthKit is a repository that gathers consumer data from MyChart and other sources. Using HealthKit as an intermediary, the Epic EMR will access data from the MyChart app and make it available to clinicians.
This brings up one HealthKit vulnerability that hasn't been discussed yet. Because HealthKit channels personal health information, the way it gathers and uses health data must be HIPAA compliant. According to experts, in this role Apple is acting as a HIPAA business associate, which makes it responsible for HIPAA compliance along with the providers it serves. Also, it remains to be seen whether developers digging into HealthKit will understand the role HIPAA plays in rolling out HealthKit-connected apps. If they handle the issue badly, it's possible new opportunities for HIPAA breaches will arise.