Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/949902
64 CIO / HEALTH IT Apple Adds Medical Records to Its Health App By Julie Spitzer A pple plans to integrate patient health records into its Health app to make it easier for consumers to review their medical data from multiple providers. In the latest iOS 11.3 beta, iPhone Health apps will include a "Health Records" sec- tion. Patients who have medical information from various institutions will be able to or- ganize their data in one bucket that covers allergies, conditions, immunizations, lab results, medications, procedures and vitals. is will enable patients to share their up- to-date medical information with providers, caregivers or anyone else they choose. Users will also receive notifications when their data is updated. e health records section of the app is based on Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources guidelines, a standard for transferring EMRs. Apple will not see the data unless the user elects to share it, Apple COO Jeff Williams told CNBC. "Our goal is to help consumers live a better day. We've worked closely with the health com- munity to create an experience everyone has wanted for years — to view medical records easily and securely right on your iPhone," Mr. Williams said in a press release. "By empow- ering customers to see their overall health, we hope to help consumers better understand their health and help them lead healthier lives." Apple is also working with EHR vendors like Epic, Cerner and athenahealth to better inte- grate records with the iPhone while abiding by FHIR protocols. e vendors "have been an enabling, and not a blocking factor, and we appreciate that," Kevin Lynch, Apple's vice president of technology, told CNBC. "We're pleased to be a part of this collabo- ration as Apple works to make health data more accessible, portable and interoperable for patients," Epic's Vice President of Patient Engagement Janet Campbell told Becker's Hospital Review. Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine, Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai, Philadel- phia-based Penn Medicine and nine other participating hospitals are among the first to make this beta feature available to their pa- tients. n Meditech Posts $480M in Year-End Revenue, Up 4% From 2016: 4 Things to Know By Jessica Kim Cohen M editech recently filed its annual fi- nancial report with the U.S. Secu- rities and Exchange Commission for its fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2017. Here are four things to know about the company's year-end performance. 1. Meditech posted $480.9 million in com- bined product and service revenue for full-year 2017, up 4 percent from $462.26 million in 2016. 2. In 2017 Meditech experienced a $27.1 million increase in product revenue driv- en primarily by higher product bookings, offset by a $8.4 million decrease in service revenue. 3. The company reported $63.98 million in operating income during 2017, down 8 percent from $69.89 last year. 4. Meditech posted a net income of $77.43 million, up 6 percent from $72.89 million one year prior. n Here's How Much Epic, Cerner & Other Health IT Companies Spent on Lobbying in 2017's Q4 By Julie Spitzer T echnology companies poured millions into lobbying efforts in the last quarter of fiscal year 2017 to address issues related to health IT, according to filings reported by Politico Morning eHealth newsletter. Here is what eight companies spent on lobbying efforts for health IT last quarter, listed from most to least. 1. Google dished out $4.42 million on lobbying efforts for health data policy and opioid crisis response. 2. IBM's fourth quarter filing designated $1.75 million for health IT and other issues. 3. Apple spent $1.61 million to address issues such as regulating mobile medical applications and privacy. 4. athenahealth spent $190,000, with a chunk of the funds on behalf of topics related to ONC's role "in the marketplace pertaining to programs that impede private sector innovation." 5. Cerner paid one lobby $50,000 for health IT issues and another $70,000 for "Department of Veterans Affairs health information technology issues." 6. Epic, which enlists lobbyist Bradford Card, spent about $40,000 in the fourth quarter of 2017. 7. Monument Policy Group filed a termination report for Claim Your Health Data Coalition, which spent nearly $30,000 on lobbying related to "healthcare, IT and medical records," according to the filing reviewed by Politico. 8. Leidos paid lobbyists $10,000 to address EMR issues. n