The tech titan and giant health system have been working together for two years, as Mayo Clinic helped influence the design of Apple’s new Health app and HealthKit API.
And at Tuesday’s iPhone launch event, Mayo Clinic staff will be on hand to show off Apple’s health care software — and how Apple can ostensibly help doctors practice better medicine, Evan Ramstad of the Star-Tribune reports in an interesting scoop.
The Apple-Mayo Clinic relationship played a notable role at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference back in June, when Apple first announced its new HealthKit software and Health app for the iPhone.
iPhone 6: Leaked Details About Apple’s HealthKit Rollout
At the time, Mayo Clinic’s top doctor offered a key endorsement of Apple: “We believe Apple’s HealthKit will revolutionize how the health industry interacts with people,” according to Mayo Clinic CEO Dr. John Noseworthy.
Mayo Clinic was “proud to be at the forefront of this innovative technology,” Noseworthy added.
It’s not hyperbole — Noseworthy’s health system really will be at the forefront of Apple’s health strategy, or at least front-and-center for Apple’s iPhone launch event.
For instance, when Apple shows off the iPhone’s new Health app — which is intended to be a central repository for a wide range of patient data — Mayo Clinic will follow up by demonstrating how data from the app can “flow into the more sophisticated management system of a major health center,” Ramstad reports.
The health system has been piloting several health care applications for the iPhone. Mayo Clinic currently is testing a service to alert patients when their Apple apps detect abnormal health results, and help schedule them for follow-up visits, Christina Farr reported last month for Reuters.
Mayo Clinic staff on Monday also confirmed what’s been heavily rumored: Apple will be launching an iWatch, and the health system hopes to play some role in helping the iWatch drive patient health improvement, Darius Tahir reports for Modern Healthcare.
How Apple and Mayo Clinic are positioning HealthKit.
Apple and Mayo Clinic are giants in their respective industries.
Apple revenue topped $171 billion for fiscal year 2013, and the company is expected to sell as many as 235 million iPhones in 2015.
Meanwhile, Mayo Clinic reached more than 63 million patients through its new Mayo Clinic Care Network in 2013, with more than $9 billion in revenue.
And both organizations have ambitions to go further, which could make their partnership especially fortuitous.
For Apple, Mayo Clinic offers legitimacy — and a high-profile teammate — as Apple makes its first concerted push into the multi-trillion dollar health care industry. (The company reportedly thinks it has a “moral obligation” to move into health care.)
Mayo Clinic’s high performing doctors also could provide ideal beta testers for a flurry of new HealthKit apps, too.
For Mayo Clinic, the exposure to Apple’s millions of users could help solidify its goal to be the nation’s most prominent health system. In an interview that Mayo Clinic CEO Noseworthy recently did with us on the Advisory Board Daily Briefing, he discussed his ambition to have Mayo Clinic nearly triple its footprint and serve 200 million patients by the year 2020.
But there are real questions — and legitimate risks — about Apple and Mayo Clinic’s shared aspiration.
Some analysts argue that Apple’s new iPhone, iWatch, and health apps will help revolutionize the health care industry … but those are heavy expectations for devices that likely need FDA approval before debuting any groundbreaking technologies.
And Apple’s not the first big name to try and enter the market; many other tech firms, like Google and Microsoft, have tried to jump into health care, if only to come up short.
Apple’s push into the health care space also comes just days after an embarrassing breach of the company’s iCloud platform, as hackers stole nude photos of dozens of female celebrities. And if there’s a data breach involving Mayo Clinic health data, the hospital system stands to be more than embarrassed — it runs the risk of damaging its 150 years of hard-won brand equity, built around patient sensitivity.