Apple Partnering with Veterans Affairs to Bring Health Records to Nine Million U.S. Veterans

Apple is expanding its move into the health care industry, thanks to a new partnership.

According to a new press release from the Cupertino company, Apple has reached a deal with the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that will soon allow millions of U.S. veterans to access their Health Records using their iPhone.

“We have great admiration for veterans, and we’re proud to bring a solution like Health Records on iPhone to the veteran community,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “It’s truly an honor to contribute to the improved healthcare of America’s heroes.”

Health Records on iPhone will be the first record-sharing platform of its kind available to the VA, which is the largest medical system in the United States providing service to more than nine million veterans across 1,243 facilities.

This new collaboration will allow these veterans to view their aggregated medical records — including conditions, vaccinations, lab tests, medical procedures, diagnoses, and more — in one place.



“When patients have better access to their health information, they have more productive conversations with their physicians,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s COO. “By bringing Health Records on iPhone to VA patients, we hope veterans will experience improved healthcare that will enhance their lives.”

The Health Records feature on the iPhone will be the first record-sharing platform like this available to the VA, Apple also noted.

“Our goal is to empower people to better understand and improve their health, enabling them to view their medical information from multiple providers in one place easily and securely,” said Kevin Lynch, Apple’s vice president of Technology. “We’re excited to bring this feature to veterans across the US.”

Apple introduced health record sharing with iOS 12, and this appears to be a natural extension of that. This will hopefully make it easier for veterans to keep track of important health-related developments, and allow for healthcare professionals to provide the right care for the moment.