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Apple reportedly working to make your medical history mobile

All your medical data could be available on your iPhone with new initiative, CNBC reports.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
Expertise I have more than 30 years' experience in journalism in the heart of the Silicon Valley.
Steven Musil
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Your medical data at the touch of a button?

Josh Lowensohn/CNET

How would you like to have your entire medical and health history at your fingertips -- literally?

No more making multiple calls to get your records -- all of your doctor visits, lab results and prescriptions available on your phone, so that you can share the data with new physicians at a moment's notice? Sound pretty handy?

Apple reportedly thinks so.

The tech titan is in talks with developers, hospitals and other industry groups about bringing data such as detailed lab results and allergy lists to the iPhone , CNBC reported Wednesday.  Such an initiative, involving a centralized management system like what Apple has with iTunes, could help overcome technical barriers that often hamper effective sharing of patient information among health professionals.

Apple has had its sights set on the health industry for some time. In 2014, Apple introduced HealthKit, a framework designed for developers to create apps that can gather and share medical information about its users. Apple has reportedly shifted its focus to turning the app bundle into a full-fledged diagnostic tool that could interpret fitness and health data in order to offer medical advice.

Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

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