A new report shares how Apple products are helping users, developers and healthcare organizations advance healthcare, research and personal care
Today, Apple shared a new report that provides an overview of how Apple products are empowering people to be at the center of their health and acting as an intelligent guardian of their health and safety. Users, developers, medical institutions and healthcare organizations around the world are using Apple devices, features and APIs to break down barriers between people and their health information while keeping privacy in mind.
Apple’s efforts to promote health mainly fall into two categories, detailed in two corresponding sections of the report. The first section outlines Apple’s focus on personal health and fitness features on the Apple Watch and iPhone that deliver actionable, science-based insights and help protect users’ health and safety. The second section shares Apple’s work with the medical community to support research and care. Both sections—along with an Extensions and Highlights section at the end of the report—include a variety of examples from third-party developers, healthcare institutions, and organizations innovating with Apple technology.
“We passionately believe that technology can play a role in improving health outcomes and encouraging people to live a healthier day, and we are excited about the many ways users are benefiting from our health and fitness resources and for the ways third-party developers, institutions and organizations are using Apple technology to advance health and science,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s COO. “Our vision for the future is to continue to create science-based technology that equips people with even more information and acts as an intelligent guardian of their health so they are no longer passengers on their own health journey. Instead, we want people to be firmly in the driver’s seat with meaningful, actionable insights.”
Empowering Users on Their Personal Health Journeys
Since launching the Health app in 2014 and Apple Watch in 2015, Apple has introduced a wide range of innovative health and fitness features aimed at providing users with meaningful, easy-to-understand insights so they can live healthier. The report outlines the four pillars of Apple’s health and fitness capabilities: 1) providing users with a central, secure place to store and view their health data in the Health app, 2) offering features that allow the Apple Watch to act as a smart guardian for users’ health, 3) offering features that help users improve their daily health and fitness for better health outcomes, and 4) powering innovative third-party health and fitness apps with developer tools.
With the release of iOS 16 and watchOS 9 this fall, the Apple Watch and iPhone will offer features that focus on 17 areas of health and fitness, from heart health and sleep to mobility and women’s health and more. Over the years, clients of all ages have shared how these health and fitness resources, in their own words, have changed their lives. On the same subject : Delaware Department of Public Health Recognized as a Master of Healthy People by 2030 – State of Delaware News. Several share their stories in the report, including clients who discovered serious heart problems, received emergency assistance after a fall, or dramatically improved their health through daily activities.
Users can now store over 150 different types of health data from Apple Watch, iPhone, and connected third-party apps and devices in a central view within the Health app, as well as available health record data from connected institutions in the US, UK , and Canada. There are currently tens of thousands of apps on the App Store that use the HealthKit API, which allows developers to embed data users choose to share from the Health app to deliver innovative health and fitness experiences with strict data privacy and security protocols. . The report highlights examples of globally popular HealthKit-enabled apps such as Nike Run Club, Calm and WeightWatchers, as well as a growing number of HealthKit-enabled apps – including Qardio heart health and Withings Health Mate – that use connected accessories to enable users to track and monitor even more aspects of your health.
Supporting the Health Ecosystem by Collaborating with the Medical Community
Apple believes that the strongest innovations in healthcare are only possible through direct collaboration with the medical community, and the report outlines four categories of that collaboration: 1) building tools to enable researchers to make new scientific discoveries, 2) helping to strengthen the physician-patient relationship with meaningful data, 3) collaborate with healthcare organizations to promote healthy lifestyles on a large scale, and 4) support public health and government initiatives. On the same subject : Loyola names Barry Rosen as Business Leader of the Year – Newsroom.
The ResearchKit framework offers researchers the opportunity to recruit study participants from a large base of iPhone and Apple Watch users, and for participants to choose to share health data to help advance science. Through the Research app, Apple collaborated with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the American Heart Association, and the University of Michigan and the World Health Organization to offer US users the opportunity to participate in three of their first research studies of its kind: the Apple Women’s Health Study, the Apple Heart and Movement Study, and the Apple Hearing Study. Early learnings from the studies appear in the report, as well as information about other studies Apple has supported, such as the Heart Failure Study with the University Health Network and the Digital Mental Health Study with UCLA.
iPhone health records in the Health app, along with apps and devices developed by third parties using Apple developer tools, help strengthen doctor-patient relationships with meaningful data. Health records are now available to patients at over 800 institutions in over 12,000 locations, making it easier for patients to see their medical data available from multiple providers in the Health app whenever they want. Research has shown that connecting patients with their care teams remotely results in better outcomes with the Corrie Health app, UVA in-home healthcare programs, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs lending Apple devices to veterans to connect them to their services. of health VA. Care teams are better able to help patients with chronic conditions in the Ochsner Health System and NHS Sunderland, and remote monitoring is reducing cost and length of stay in neonatal intensive care units at Odense University Hospital and the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital, where premature babies can return home to their parents but remain connected to care teams remotely.
Healthcare organizations and companies around the world — including Paceline in the US; Vitality Active Rewards in the US, UK, South Africa and Australia; and LumiHealth in Singapore — collaborated with Apple to integrate Apple Watch into their wellness programs. There are currently 55 programs running in 17 countries, with more than one million users participating in an incentive program that leverages the Apple Watch. These programs were successful in increasing participants’ physical activity levels and adopting health behaviors, such as seeking more regular sleep patterns, focusing on mindfulness, and switching to healthier food options.
Finally, the report highlights Apple’s partnerships with doctors and local governments in unique ways to support their crucial work to advance public health, including building apps and resources during the COVID-19 health crisis.
Grounded in Science and Designed Around Privacy
All of Apple’s health and fitness features are built with two overarching principles: See the article : Wire WIC for better working families with no food.
