How the Apple/IBM partnership will impact mobile health IT

How does this partnership impact mobile health?

This summer, both the business and the tech world were buzzing as IBM and Apple announced that they were forming a partnership.  While this obviously means big changes on the enterprise front, how does this partnership (if at all) impact mobile healthcare IT?

1. Security:  EMR's and mobile health have long been plagued by concerns of lack of data security.  With HIPAA compliance and PHI (Patient Health Information) concerns at the forefront, this Apple/IBM partnership could potentially address issues of data security that have stood in the way of the expansion of mobile healthcare usage and development.  The deal calls for IBM to build a suite of platforms and apps that will transport healthcare data securely from the bedside to Apple devices.
2. Epic's "MyChart" App:  Apple has a partnership with Kaiser's EMR, Epic Systems.  This deal will bring data security and potentially increased usage of Epic's mobile application on Apple devices.
3. Apple's Healthkit:  Apple's iOS 8 to be released this fall will feature "Healthkit".  This will aggregate data brought in from fitness apps and activity trackers into one dashboard.  IBM has already been working on building healthcare applications for the iOS.



iOs8 Healthkit

4. Siri + Watson: The marriage of Siri and Watson used in a healthcare setting could potentially give physicians hands free computing and health data analysis as one of the prime applications of IBM's cognitive computing system.

In conclusion, this partnership definitely brings opportunity for dramatic change in the mobile Health IT space.  While we don't know exactly what will be released in terms of health care applications on the mobile devices, we do hope that IBM's increased security will alleviate security concerns of users and lead to increased adoption of mobile health.