Apple's Healthkit app may not be coming to users until the release of iOS 8, but the tech giant is already discussing how the service will work with top health care providers, according to Reuters.
The publication's sources "familiar with the discussions" reported that Apple has talked with Mount Sinai, the Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins, as well as with Allscripts, an electronic health records provider.
Reuters notes that Apple views Healthkit as a "lynchpin in a broader push into mobile health care" and has already partnered with Nike, Epic Systems (another electronic health records provider) and the Mayo Clinic, which has its own suite of mobile apps.
From the Reuters report:
"Dozens of major health systems that use Epic's software will soon be able to integrate health and fitness data from HealthKit into Epic's personal health record, called MyChart, according to a person briefed by Apple. Kaiser Permanente is currently piloting a number of mobile apps that leverage HealthKit, two people have said, and is expected to reach out to Apple to discuss a more formal partnership.
'Apple is going into this space with a data play," said Forrester Research's health care analyst Skip Snow. "They want to be a hub of health data.'"
Cleveland Clinic associate chief information officer William Morris told Reuters its clinical solutions team is testing Apple's HealthKit beta and providing feedback to Apple.
iOS 8 Beta 5 was made available to developers last week, as BGR correctly predicted.
The website's source has also informed them that beta 6 will be released on Aug. 15 and will be the final iteration before iOS 8 Gold Master (GM) is released - which will come after "a lull of several weeks."
iOS 8 beta 5 is available now over-the-air and through the iOS Developer Center for developers using compatible iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices.
The public iOS 8 update will become available this fall.
