With Apple consulting Argonaut Project on health records, interoperability could get the push it needs

HL7 collaborative chief says aggregating records on the iPhone could lead consumers to help solve the interoperability problem themselves.

Apple is said to be working with the Argonaut Project to integrate more electronic health data with the iPhone, a move experts say could go a long way towards advancing medical record interoperability. Participants in the Argonaut Project – an HL7-led initiative focused on expanding the use of open standards for health data exchange, notably HL7's FHIR specification – are some of the industry’s most notable vendors and providers: Accenture, athenahealth, Cerner, Epic, McKesson, Meditech, Surescripts, The Advisory Board Company, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Intermountain Healthcare, Mayo Clinic, Partners HealthCare.

It's not a bad place, then, for Apple to get some ideas about better integrating its products into a complex and fragmented healthcare ecosystem. Argonaut leader Micky Tripathi, president and CEO of Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, would not comment on anything specific about Apple's discussions with the group, but he was glad to offer some thoughts on what iPhone-based health records could potentially mean for healthcare more generally. In particular, Tripathi seemed excited that Apple could play a significant role in improving interoperability – especially with regard to consumer-mediated exchange...

Tripathi said he could envision a world where a patient is able to aggregate all of their records on their device, and "use that as the vehicle for sharing." For instance, a diabetic could use an iPhone-based diabetes app and populate it with his or her own health data. "They could say, 'Alright, app, go to the API at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and get my diabetes-relevant information.' Maybe that's lab results related to diabetes, but it's not everything – those records could be voluminous, but the app is able to go out and get just that information that's important to me"...