athenahealth to Support iOS 15 Feature Allowing Patients to Share Apple Health app Data with their Providers

Starting this fall, US-based health institutions using athenahealth can empower patients to share certain data from the Health app on iPhone with their providers for more informed conversations

WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--athenahealth, a leading provider of network-enabled software and services for medical groups and health systems nationwide, today announced that with iOS 15 customers in the US can offer their patients the option to share important everyday health information stored in the Apple Health app — like heart rate, detected falls, hours of sleep, or exercise minutes — directly with their providers. Beginning this fall, patients at participating healthcare institutions will be able to share certain types of data in a secure and private way, to have more informed, meaningful conversations with their doctor.

When patients choose to share data from the Health app, their healthcare team will be able to view the shared data in a web-based dashboard in the doctor’s own EHR system, within the patient’s chart. Patients can securely share a range of information stored in the Health app, including data from certain health records categories like lab test results and immunizations, as well as health information from iPhone, Apple Watch, and third-party connected devices, such as activity, heart rate, cycle tracking, sleep, irregular rhythm notifications, falls, and more. Within the dashboard, providers can easily review trends and changes over time.

athenahealth continues to invest in platform capabilities that support our vision to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all. The company is supporting Apple’s new feature as part of its broader efforts to enable bringing external insights and innovations to the point of care. The functionality will leverage the company’s FHIR Launch and App Tab experience so that providers can view their patients’ shared data within their native athenaClinicals workflows via an Apple-provided app.

This new feature builds on Health Records on iPhone, which creates a direct connection between health institutions and a patient’s iPhone so patients can see a central view of their allergies, conditions, immunizations, lab results, medications, procedures, and vitals directly within the Health app. Apple worked with the health care community to augment the SMART on FHIR standard to support end-to-end encryption for this health data sharing feature, meaning all data is secure and encrypted in transit and at rest. Additionally, this feature is designed to meet the security requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

Health care institutions that use athenahealth and support Health Records on iPhone can offer this feature to their patients starting this fall. Learn more about Health Records at https://www.apple.com/healthcare/health-records/ and email [e-mail] to register for health data sharing with providers.

“athenahealth is proud to support this upcoming feature that empowers patients as a critical part of their care team and securely provides clinicians with data that helps them see a more complete picture of the patient’s health,” said Paul Brient, chief product officer at athenahealth. “Through innovation and connecting all players in healthcare to seamlessly exchange data and unlock actionable insights, we are working to help all people lead healthier lives.”

About athenahealth, Inc.

athenahealth partners with medical organizations across the country to drive clinical and financial results. Our vision is to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all, and we are pursuing this through our medical record, revenue cycle, patient engagement, and care coordination service offerings. Our expert teams build modern technology on an open, connected ecosystem, yielding insights that make a difference for our customers and their patients. For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com.