Ochsner Health System first provider to fully integrate with Apple HealthKit

Apple HealthKit

New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System announced that it is the first Epic Systems client to successfully integrate its electronic health record (EHR) with Apple’s HealthKit platform.

“In the past, we relied on patients to log information, bring it to us, and then we would input the data and decide a course of action,” said Robert Bober, MD, Director of Cardiac Molecular Imaging, Ochsner Medical Center. “Now we can share information seamlessly between patient and physician to allow real-time, accurate analysis of a patient’s health status. This is ideal for patients with chronic diseases such as heart failure, hypertension and diabetes.”

HealthKit integration is ideal for patients with chronic diseases such as heart failure, hypertension and diabetes.Ochsner began a home monitoring program earlier in the year for patients with heart failure who used Withings wireless scales to track their weight daily. The information gathered was sent to Ochsner’s EHR, with pharmacist monitoring the patient being able to adjust the medication over the phone, thus preventing unnecessary hospitalizations.

“We had to build our own interfaces to get the information into the medical record,” said Richard Milani, MD, Chief Clinical Transformation Office, Ochsner Health System. “Now, patients can choose which information will be shared with us automatically.”

Ochsner was one of three health systems tapped to beta-test HealthKit, said Jonathan Wilt, Assistant Vice President of Ochsner’s Center of Innovation. “On Sunday, October 5, we signed up our first patient and were able to successfully import his personal health data into the Epic medical record.”

Approximately 53% of Americans have their medical records within the Epic EHR, and its MyChart application is the most used patient portal in the United States.