Android CommonHealth app rolls out to 230 US health systems

The Android CommonHealth app, which enables users to access and share their health records, such as COVID-19 and lab tests, is now connected to 230 US health systems, with more than 340 health systems due to to be connected by the end of the month.

The platform allows Android users to collect and manage their health data on their mobile devices in a similar way that Apple Health Record operates on iOS. The CommonHealth project extends the health data portability and interoperability model pioneered by Apple Health to the 55% of Americans with Android devices, or 85% globally.

Building on new data interoperability standards and regulations, CommonHealth is an open-source, non-profit public service of The Commons Project. CommonHealth is being developed and deployed in collaboration with a broad coalition of public and private partners across the health and technology ecosystem.

The Commons Project, a non-profit organization developed to build and operate digital services for the public good, launched the project a year ago following Apple’s rollout of its health records app in January 2018. More than 500 organisations—including hospitals, clinics and laboratories—have signed on to make health records available through Apple’s app project.

Already integrated with LabCorp, which operates one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the world, CommonHealth allows individuals to store their COVID-19 test results and vaccination status, in addition to any health record. 

“The COVID pandemic has accelerated the need for the safe sharing of health data as medical consultations go online and individuals are required to demonstrate COVID test and vaccination status in order to travel, work, study and undertake other social activities,” said JP Pollak, co-founder and chief architect at The Commons Project. 

Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rolled out new patient health record sharing rules that will require hospitals and physicians’ offices to send standardized medical information, such as lab test results, vaccination records and imaging tests directly to third-party apps like CommonHealth by July 2021.

CommonHealth was developed in collaboration with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Cornell Tech and Sage Bionetworks with broad participation from other healthcare stakeholders. It was first deployed at UCSF Health and underwent substantial testing and user experience research in multiple diverse populations in San Francisco, the organization said.

“CommonHealth offers the ability to advance and improve care while giving patients the tools they need to be an active participant in their own care,” said Ida Sim, M.D.., Ph.D., professor of medicine and co-director of informatics and research innovation at the UCSF Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. “CommonHealth brings long-overdue innovation to electronic health record systems and nearly half the population that uses an Android device. It’s been excellent to collaborate with The Commons Project to develop CommonHealth, and we’re even more excited to be piloting it with the UCSF Health community.”

“The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for digital health services that expand access to health information to inform better care and support healthier communities,” Pollack said.

“With UCSF’s partnership and expertise, we designed CommonHealth to bridge the gaps that existing digital solutions don’t address—specifically, allowing people to collect their fragmented health records in a central hub that prioritizes privacy, above all,”