The healthcare industry is one of the largest and is the fastest-growing industry in the world. It is shaping itself and discovering new ways to evolve. The healthcare sector is all set to mark up $1.8 by 2018, and in the United States healthcare consumes 17.9 percent of the total GDP, being the highest in the world.
Seeing the potential and growing trends in the sector it will be a great time for IT giants to build a healthcare app solution. With Big Data, Data Analysis, and Predictive Analysis the healthcare industry got a boost and we can see Silicon Valley giants jumping into the sector.
- In 2014 Apple launched its cloud-based healthcare app solution HealthKit with iOS 8, with an intelligent companion- Apple Watch.
- Followed by Apple, Google launched its Google Fit- a set of APIs allowing developers to sync data between the app and wearable devices. Google is expected to extend the platform with SDK to create the next generation of wearable devices.
One side of Apple experiments to explore the healthcare industry, while Google is more interested in fitness tracking and better connectivity of Android-powered wearables. Let’s see through the article what are the trends in the Healthcare industry and how these APIs
– HealthKit and Google Fit help with the fitness app development and stand as a support in the M-health mobile app solution.
Trends In The Healthcare Industry
Several trends are ruling the industry and are important from the user’s point of view. Some of these trends are-
Awareness Among Employers
Employers these days have bought their focus towards health and fitness. With changing lifestyles and rising health care costs employers, as well as the employees, have now started focusing on health and fitness. There is an increase in Gym memberships, buying of healthcare products and diet foods.
Augmented Reality
Another very fascinating trend is the Augmented reality, this technology has gained a lot of focus in the healthcare sector. Using AR it has now become possible to check diagnoses in a few minutes. Imagine a time when doctors would not need to check every file rather the information about the patient will simply appear in front of their eyes.
Wearable Devices In Fashion
Advanced devices such as fitness trackers keep patients involved in the medical process. These devices have kept people more active and healthy on their own. Instead of rushing to the hospital patients can check various health metrics such as blood pressure, heart rate, the number of steps, and diet.
The Technology Has Now Reached The Hospitals
Technology is not only comforting to the patients, instead, but these automation tools are also overwhelming the healthcare executives. Smart beds, robots in clinics, and smart devices have given speed to the industry.
The Google FitKit and Apple HealthKit API Breakdown
Google Fit
Google Fit is an open platform that allows the user to take control of their fitness data, it allows people to upload and manage the data repository. The data on the apps can be stored with any fitness device and can be accessed by any app.
It consists of the following components-
The Fitness Store
This is the central repository and is used to store data from a variety of devices and healthcare app solutions. This is totally cloud-based and is transparent in nature.
The Sensor Framework
This framework is used with the Google Fit APIs, a high-level representation to work with different fitness stores.
Permission and User Controls
Google Fit Kit required permission and need to be authorized to access the fitness data. This module grants permission for the same.
Google Fit APIs
With Google Fit APIs, create apps that support Google Fit Kit despite any platform such as Android, iOS, etc.
Google Fit Provides The Following APIs:
- Android APIs for Android apps.
- REST API for apps on any platform.
Read more: Cost to Make Medical Apps for Healthcare Professionals
Data Types Google Fit API work with-
- Number of segments in a particular activity
- Heartbeats per minute
- Power generation from any activity
- Get user location
- Nutrition intake time
Apple HealthKit API
Apple, on the other hand, is thinking to dig deep into the healthcare sector, it wants to create an unforgettable presence in healthcare.
From a simple health tracker, Apple is finding solutions to have a safe transfer of health information from one hospital to another and looking for ways to help doctors analyze huge data of their patients.
For Developers, Apple Has Opened a New Field of Growth and Has Three Kits For The Care of People.
- HealthKit– A framework that allows developers to consolidate the user’s data and make it accessible from third-party apps, with full privacy and control over the leakage of data.
- ResearchKit– As the name suggests it enables medical researchers to conduct large-scale research using iPhone.
- CarKit– This enables providers to build apps, to empower patients.
Read more: The Trendiest High-Tech Healthcare in 2018
Data Types Apple’s HealthKit Framework Provides
- Body Measurements
- The number of steps taken and energy burned called the Fitness Identifiers
- Signs Identifiers- heart rate, body temperature, BP, etc
- Results identifiers such as oxygen saturation
- The factors identifying Nutrition consumed
- Other character identifiers of the Patients
Health and fitness app is meant to go hand in hand with. The power of Health APIs from Google and Apple is a way to get access to all the ways to introspect fitness activities. These APIs Google Fit and HealthKit are now a fitness hub, as a developer all you need is to sync your wearable with Google Kit or sync your health tracking app with Apple Kit. Understand the APIs, understand the code, and stream all your information into it.
Jignesh Vagasiya
Jignesh Vaghasiya is CEO at Universal Stream Solution LLC. USS LLC provides the best Mobile App Development and Web Development Service.