Dear members,

  1. ASOS has been monitoring all aspects of the health data industry.
  2. Apple has announced a major development that will allow all patients to control their individual health records from their iPhone.
  3. A complete model of how this will work is in the link, https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/06/apple-opens-health-records-api-to-developers/
  4. How this development impacts on the Federal Government’s My Health Record is unclear.
  5. Initial reaction from the Australian Digital Health Agency “This development raises a number of questions about the likely impacts on the Australian market. First of all, it might be thought that this announcement – and others like it – interferes with the Australian Digital Health Agency’s mission. Quite the opposite, in fact – it furthers the Agency’s mission to improve digital health in Australia. We look forward to the development of a vibrant digital health marketplace with companies of all sizes innovating to provide better digital health solutions to all Australians.””A related concern is that the Health app would compete directly with the My Health Record. It doesn’t, since applications like these need to be able to access data from somewhere. The My Health Record is part of the Australian digital health infrastructure that Apple’s Health app and others draw upon and interact with. The app provides a way to facilitate information sharing between patients and healthcare providers.”