UNC patients will soon be able to check their health records on a new feature made by Apple and UNC Health Care.
Apple recently announced collaboration with UNC Health Care, adding a Health Records feature on the iPhone Health app.
UNC Health Care is among only 12 institutions nationwide, and the only health system in North Carolina, to initially be a part of the iOS 11.3 beta.
Though still in its beta phase, UNC Health Care chief information officer Tracy Parham says the new app will use the online my UNC Chart portal to access patient medical records.
“The collaboration with Apple really is that connection. So that you can go to the Apple Health app on your phone and literally tap on a health record icon on the screen, and it will immediately bring up that same information that you have in my UNC Chart,” said Parham.
Apple Health collects data from multiple other sources, which Parham says makes gathering information easier for patients.
“You can get information from scales that you might have in the home to manage your fitness, manage your health, you can enter data into it; it has other information, potentially other information that might be outside of what we do here at UNC Health Care,” Parham said.
According to Parham, it can be a common challenge to get patients engaged in their healthcare and the app will push patients to be more independent and healthy.
“People make decisions, at least in this day and age, they expect information accessible quickly at their fingertips on iPhones,” said Parham. “And when people make decisions, you want as much data as you can to be informed. So when you can collect that information, whether it’s lab work, procedures, appointments, information and be able to combine that with potentially other data that you’re collecting about yourself or your family, then you get a bigger picture.”
Though no date has been set on when the app will be released, but Parham says she is encouraged by the progress being made.
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