Dive Brief:

• Fourteen of 23 top hospitals are either using a pilot program of Apple's HealthKit platform or are in talks to do so, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
• HealthKit tracks patient-generated information like blood pressure, weight and heart rate and the programs are intended to help physicians use that data to monitor patients with chronic conditions. 
• Meanwhile, a series of want-ads in the tech sector have led the good folks at 9to5Mac to conclude that the Apple/IBM tech team-up will soon make a serious play for the mobile healthcare industry, according to a report on the tech news outlet's site.

Dive Insight:

"Apple is actively seeking qualified candidates for the sales role of Business Development Executive (BDE); an enterprise class individual contributor role with entrepreneurial and strategic leadership experiences who will play a pivotal role in the US success of the recently announced Apple partnership with IBM," stated the job listing on Apple's website. "The BDE will lead thru influence and impact by developing a community of Apple and IBM field based sales and technical roles who strive to collectively transform how business is done with iOS (namely iPad and iPhone) and mobility at the center."

You have to hand it to Apple—the company is serious about healthcare. It's not enough that they made the iPad so indispensable to physicians that medical schools have taken to giving them away to every student enrolled as a matter of practice. Back in July, they joined with longtime rival IBM to strike a blow for interoperability and comprehensive app creation, with the intent to help move healthcare apps forward in ways only the two giants could accomplish together.

"Another 12 apps will be released this quarter, including three new industries: healthcare, energy and utilities and industrial products,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, according to a January 27 Seeking Alpha report. "This will bring us to a total of 22 apps, and we're on track to have over 100 by the end of 2015."

Now, the question is just what the partnership can do that's strikingly better than what say, Microsoft and Samsung are up to of late. 

"How do we get Apple to work with Samsung? I think it will be a problem eventually," Brian Carter, a Cerner director focused on personal and population health at Cerner (Cerner is integrated with HealthKit).