One of the goals of Apple’s health initiatives is that they want a one-stop location for all your medical data, so that the next time you go to the doctor, you’ll be able to show them all your medical data, including biometrics collected by your wearables such as the Apple Watch which hopefully will give them a better idea of what’s going on with you.
Now according to a report from The Wall Street Journal (via AppleInsider), it seems that Apple is in talks with the Department of Veterans Affairs to potentially transfer the medical records belonging to US veterans onto iPhones. This would accomplish what we mentioned above, which is that they’ll be able to keep their own medical records which they can then use to show doctors and hospitals when they are admitted.
There have been talks by the VA in the past about a possible program to help modernize the VA records, and this could be one of the ways to do so. There is the question of privacy and security, although with the Health Records feature, it is said to be encrypted which should help prevent unwanted eyes from looking in on your data without your permission.
No doubt a deal with the VA would be a major coup for Apple which would allow them to further their health programs and initiatives, but whether or not this deal will go through remains to be seen.