Apple working on adding diagnostic data to iPhone

Your iPhone will soon be a personal hub for medical information. Apple is working with a small start-up to add diagnostic data to your device, bridging the gap for hospitals to access vital patient data within minutes.

Apple is working with a small start-up Health Gorilla, said a CNBC report on Monday.

Health Gorilla is specifically working to add diagnostic data including blood work, by integrating with hospitals, lab-testing companies such as Quest and LabCorp and imaging centres.

The start-up, which has raised just $5 million in funding, specialises in giving doctors a complete picture of patient health history, according to its website.

Apple is attempting to bridge the gap where hospitals struggle to access vital data about their patients at the point of care.

This initiative is aimed at solving the problem by making the patient the centre of their own care.

"The goal is to give iPhone users the tools to review, store and share their own medical information, including lab results, allergy lists and so on," the report said.

Though Apple has also been focusing on aggregating fitness information, this new initiative may be deemed as a deviation.

According to Health Gorilla investor True Ventures, the start-up CEO Steve Yaskin founded the company after a doctor friend of his was frustrated with the process of transferring patients' diagnostic test results.

"The startup is primarily geared to physicians and serves as a marketplace for them to place orders and share medical records," the report noted.

But it also has a free offering for patients, which promises to gather up medical information in 10 minutes.

Apart from Apple that is focusing on health aspects of its customers, Microsoft has had a portal called Health Vault, while Google's project Google Health shut down in 2011.

--IANS

qd/in