iPhone 6: Apple And Mayo Clinic Partnership Could Be Smart Medicine

When Apple unveils the iPhone 6 and teases the iWatch on Tuesday, it’ll share tech’s biggest stage with one of the biggest names in health care: Mayo Clinic.

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.

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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.