“I’m highly skeptical that HealthKit will change any sort of outcomes in most fields,” Dr. Sufka says. “I think that rheumatology is a field where data gathering is going to be a big limiting factor, since I’m not aware of any good way for a device to gather patient data in the background.”
Still, Dr. Sufka hopes HealthKit will extend its reach, which might lead to wider use of valuable apps that might not yet be meeting their potential. He says he helped design an app, called MyRA, which tracks location and intensity of joint pain over time, as well as other symptoms such as fatigue. He says it’s a quality app, but “I’m not sure how much traction the app has received. I do hope they plan to connect it to HealthKit.
Thomas R. Collins is a freelance medical writer based in Florida.
