Patient Health Data Access and Sharing

Patient health data access and sharing is about making electronic health records usable across healthcare providers and, at a patient’s direction, available to apps and other services.

APIs and standards such as SMART on FHIR can connect patient-facing tools, including Apple Health, with electronic health record systems. U.S. rules have also sought to support record portability and restrict information blocking. These efforts raise an enduring question: how can patients gain practical control of their health information while protecting sensitive data, especially when it moves to third-party apps that may not be covered by HIPAA?