Group Health Cooperative’s iPhone app – Making nurses and doctors accessible via mobile

I received this message in my in-box yesterday from Colby Voorhees (@colbyv) and immediately went to check it out:

It’s out!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mygrouphealth-mobile/id445899971

What he was talking about is the Group Health Cooperative iPhone app, MyGroupHealth Mobile, released on the iTunes app store on July 12, 2011.

Besides providing what a lot of other iPhone apps provide, this one does something very special, it provides doctors and nurses, medical assistants, physical therapists, and any other clinician practicing at Group Health Cooperative, via built in messaging. This is in addition to all the other medical record access features, like lab and test results, immunizations, and vaccinations.

In a word, I think this is huge. It means a medical group is going to the next level of access to their patients, via mobile device (in this case the iPhone).

Way back when when I was a part of the team that pioneered e-mail access to physicians, requests came in fairly soon after about quicker access than the web could offer – “when could patients instant message / text their doctor” was the general theme. We couldn’t envision it back then, the steps to get to e-mail were so … impressive.

And now it’s happened, look at that Pacific Northwest logo in all of its app glory. Congratulations, Group Health (@GroupHealth). May other physicians and medical groups follow in your footsteps.

MyGroupHealth Mobile – iTunes App Store – Released July 12, 2011