Andrew Orr
Medical records company Epic Systems has partnered with Apple to bring its electronic health record tools to macOS.
Apple wanted Epic to create a native version of the service for macOS, but Epic is reportedly developing a tool that would easier to run than a native app.
"Epic does have development underway to make it easier for physicians to access Epic on Macs," a source Axios in Wednesday's report.
Epic Systems is the largest electronic health records vendor in the United States in the US. According to a report in 2021, over 250 million patients have a medical record held by Epic.
The two companies are compromising after a few years of disagreements. In 2020, Apple came out in support of proposed government policy that would allow patients more accessible access to their medical data, something the company has pioneered with its Apple Health app.
Epic opposed the rules, saying the regulations would be "overly burdensome" on America's health system and "endanger patient privacy."
It's not clear whether Apple will eventually add Epic as a health records provider in the Health app.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
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9 Comments
I dislike dealing with Epic health records systems but I've also seen more Macs and iOS devices being used in medical offices so Epic needs to accept the fact Apple is around and stop ignoring them, making only garbage Windows systems. Epic, and many other Windows-based health records systems, have gotten away with forcing health care providers to use their systems that are as open as Windows wants them to be. Windows is still the least secure and most heavily and easily attacked operating system in the world and they've probably bought off regulators and members of Congress to keep rules and regulations limited so they can't be held responsible for data loss. I wish this article would have included any data loss by Epic systems.
I'm guessing this just means they are bringing their application replacing new Hyperdrive browser to the Mac. This only affects those working in healthcare and not John Q Public. Still good news though.
My experience with Epic is that they barely talk between instances in different health care systems, you need a new account with each hospital system or practice you deal with, and small shops (OT, PT, home care) can't afford Epic in the first place, so a non-trivial portion of your records have to be hand-carried between providers.
Alberta has a very impressive system called Connect Care for hospital staff and it includes a health records app for the public. Guess who is responsible for the back end? Epic!