Samsung announced this week that it has partnered with EHR vendors and b.well's Connected Health platform. That collaboration should soon make it possible to access your medical records via the Samsung Health App on your smartphone. In addition, Samsung also presented some new and improved “health features” of the Health App.
Tech and gadget companies such as Apple, Google (Fitbit) and Samsung have been entering the 'health and fitness' market for several years. They do so mainly with smart watches equipped with various sensors for recording heart rate, oxygen levels, sleep quality and workouts (walking, swimming, cycling and the like). Increasingly, however, these manufacturers are also entering the health market. The new service that Samsung has now presented is an example of this.
Tech companies in healthcare
The health data that tech companies collect with smartwatches are thus increasingly being used not only to encourage wearers of these gadgets to live healthier lives by providing tips on healthy eating and exercise. If it is up to Samsung - and Apple and Google have the same ambition - our smartwatches will soon become the link between our health and the healthcare industry. Do we really want that?
Of course, accessing data from medical records via a smartphone has long been nothing new. Almost all healthcare institutions in the first and second line have apps and portals where patients can log in digitally, also with their smartphones, to see, for example, lab results, appointments and other medical documents. All of these are well-secured (often with DigID verification) systems managed by the healthcare facilities.
Samsung, as well as Apple and Google, are commercial companies not exactly known for their altruistic business strategies right now. Data, and especially customer data, is worth money to those companies. And no matter how much they claim they will not share (or sell) data, there will always be people who doubt the good intentions of these commercial companies. Even if in principle there is no reason to do so.
Medical record on Samsung smartphone
Well, what exactly has Samsung launched. The Samsung Health App has been around for quite some time. As mentioned, users get health and lifestyle tips through that app. Paired with a smart watch, it also tracks data on heart rate, sleep, oxygen levels, stress and the like.
Samsung has now expanded health management capabilities through the Samsung Health App. Beginning in the U.S., users can now access their health records through the app, have a good overview of their medications and conveniently track what they eat.
The new Health Records feature allows users to easily access medical records from health centers, hospitals and major health networks in the Samsung Health App. To do so, Samsung has partnered with b.well Connected Health, a platform that provides integration of the largest electronic medical record (EMR) systems in the United States, including athenahealth, Cerner Health, Epic Systems and Veradigm.
Health Records helps users with preventive care by providing meaningful information and notifications, to which recommendations are linked for a next step, such as a medical test or action. By providing users with a holistic view of their health history ─ including vaccinations and medication use, previous hospital visits and even specific test results ─ users can better communicate with their healthcare providers by having their medical records at their fingertips at all times.
Medication tracking
The option to track data around medication use through the same Health App, was already launched by Samsung in the U.S. last year. It offers users relevant information about medications. Think general description, possible side effects of and interactions between medications or reactions to certain foods. Meanwhile, in the US, this feature is already one of the most used parts of the Samsung Health App.
With the latest update, even more users have access to easy management of their medication, with even more features at their disposal. With the visual search feature, users can easily add medications to their personal medication list by simply scanning the medication container with their phone's camera. Through an intuitive dashboard, they can also easily track their medication adherence, including information on when to take which dose and whether they may have missed a dose.
Know what you're eating
Finally, the Food Tracker feature has also been improved. It allows you to scan barcodes, making it even easier to keep track of food information such as name, calorie count and nutritional value. In partnership with fatsecret, one of the largest data providers in verified food and nutrition data, users can easily scan bar codes of foods, which will automatically display nutritional information in the app. The feature will first be available in the U.S. and certain European countries, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland, and then expanded to other markets in the future.
