Apple : Advancing personal health

In a report of nearly 60 pages, Apple says it is a pioneer in the field of health technology. It has been criticized in the past for not doing well enough in health technology compared to its competitors.

Apple provides an overview of how its products help two healthcare categories: personal and consumer health and the general medical community. In both healthcare categories, Apple is working with developers, healthcare institutions, and third-party organizations to deliver new technologies, the company said in a nearly 60-page report.

“We strongly believe that technology can play a role in improving health outcomes and empowering people to live healthier lives, and we are excited about the many ways users can benefit from our health and fitness through the resources of third-party developers, institutions and organizations use Apple technology to improve health and sciences,” Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer, said in a press release announcing the new news in late July. Apple has been criticized in the past for underperforming in the healthcare industry compared to rivals such as Google and Amazon. Despite the Apple Watch’s popularity, the device hasn’t always found health features as quickly as competitors, Bloomberg News reported.

At a Mayo Clinic conference last week, Michael Howell, Google’s chief clinical officer, discussed how the company is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve healthcare for consumers. , carers and the community. Howell gave several examples of using Google Fit to monitor breathing and heart rate, make radiotherapy more effective and facilitate access to Covid-19 vaccinations. Apple used the report to make the case that it was a pioneer in health technology. The company says it will continue to make progress in this area this fall with iOS 16 and watchOS 9, which will offer features focusing on 17 health and wellness features.

For consumers

Apple focuses on four main areas when it comes to helping consumers with their health and fitness: providing a safe place to store and view health data with the Health app, informing users about possible underlying health conditions, and allowing people to manage their daily health they can track. and improve. and work with third-party developers to create apps that use Apple Watch and iPhone sensors. The Health app, Apple’s first health, and wellness feature, allows users to store more than 150 types of health data, whether from Apple Watch, iPhone, or third-party apps and devices. Encrypted data is not shared with third parties without the user’s consent. In the app, users can privately access their health records such as medications, vaccinations and lab results from participating healthcare organizations in the US and UK., and Canada.

They can also track trends like heart rate, sleep, and cardio privately in the app. It allows users to see changes in their health and can receive coaching if their health indicators drop. Apple Watch has features that can alert users to basic conditions and help them respond quickly to any health issues. For example, it can alert the user if it detects a heart rate that is too high or too low while the user is resting. Both can be symptoms of a serious underlying disease. Another function that the Apple Watch has is fall detection, which is linked to the Emergency SOS function. If the watch falls heavily and the user cannot move for a minute, they will call emergency services.

For everyday health, the Apple Watch and iPhone have features that encourage users to adopt healthy habits, the report said. The products track activity and sleep and also offer prizes and contests to encourage users to stay active. Finally, third-party developers can track health and fitness using iPhone and Apple Watch sensors. These developers include exercise apps like MyFitnessPal, meditation apps like Calm, and nutrition apps like WeightWatchers.

For the medical community

As with its consumer offerings, Apple also has four ways of working with the medical community: helping researchers with new scientific discoveries, improving the doctor-patient relationship through data, enabling healthcare organizations to promote healthy lifestyles and public health, and supporting government initiatives.

With the iPhone and Apple Watch, researchers can recruit participants for large-scale studies and gain access to large amounts of data. The Research app also allows consumers to see how data is being used and easily turn their participation on and off, according to the report. “With these contributions and the use of our sensor technology, researchers can study large and diverse groups, obtain consistent data, and ultimately analyze data from a broader representation of the population,” the report said.

Wearable devices such as the Apple Watch also give patients better insight into their health and help them know when to discuss certain issues with their doctors. In addition, doctors will have a better picture of what is happening with their patients through the data tracked by Apple products, according to the report. “Looking at data from wearable devices like the Apple Watch and working together to understand the patient experience combined with information from sensor technology is a way for us to develop knowledge that will enable us to better care for patients. This is the future, Heather Ross, chief of cardiology at the Peter Munk Heart Center, said in a release.

In addition, healthcare organizations and insurance companies are working with Apple to add the Apple Watch to their healthcare programs. These include Paceline, which uses AI and wearables to track fitness goals and offers a credit card that rewards consumers for being active. Finally, Apple said in the release that it supports public health organizations through its technology. For Covid-19, it offers features for contact alerts, virtual vaccination cards, and more.

Apple will continue to build on these features in the future, Jeff Williams, Apple’s COO, said in a statement. “Our vision for the future is to continue to create scientific technology that empowers people with more information and acts as an intelligent guardian of their health so that they are no longer passengers on their own health journey,” said Williams. “Instead, we want people to be firmly in the driver’s seat with meaningful, actionable insights.”