Health records via iPhone now available to Houston Methodist The Woodlands patients

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Houston Methodist Hospital is the first hospital in Houston to support Health Records on iPhone, which brings together hospitals, clinics and the Apple Health app to make it easy for patients to see their available medical data from multiple providers whenever they choose.

Previously, patients’ medical records were held in multiple locations, requiring patients to log into each care provider’s website and piece together the information manually.

“We are very excited to offer this unique capability to our patients in Montgomery County and communities in the northern Houston region,” said Trent Fulin, vice president of operations at Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital. “It allows our patients to access their records from our hospital, our primary care offices, our standalone emergency care center and even other Houston Methodist care centers they may have visited. Having all of your medical records available at your fingertips, when you need it, offers peace of mind and enhances the patient experience.”

Apple worked with the healthcare community to take a consumer-friendly approach to enable download of their health records, leveraging FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources), a standard for transferring electronic medical records.

“This is important because typically our patients need to log in to multiple accounts to get the full picture of their health,” said Robert A. Phillips M.D., Ph.D, executive vice president and chief medical officer at Houston Methodist. “This will be more convenient and, more important, help patients maintain their healthy lives.”

“By providing a tool that lets them access their medical records, we are empowering patients to be in control of their own records. This is the type of innovation we are committed to providing patients,” he said.

Having access to medical data is important when a patient visits hospitals or physician offices that are not are not connected through a medical record, Phillips said.

There are 325,000 Houston Methodist patients currently using a medical records tool called My Chart, which provides patients access to their appointments, medication lists, and two-way communications from the physician’s office.

Houston Methodist patients who have an iPhone or iPod Touch can use their credentials to authenticate themselves and download their available health records to the Health Records app.

To access Health Records, open the Health app, tap the “Health Data” icon located on the bottom of the screen, select, “Health Records,” and type in the name of the organization that you want on the search box.

For more information on Health Records, visit: www.apple.com/healthcare/health- records/.