Imagine you rush to the emergency room, but after five hours, they tell you to find another hospital. Or you check in at your specialist’s office for a chronic condition, only to find they have no access to your entire medical history. Both of these scenarios happened. The cyberattack on one of the largest health systems in the U.S., Ascension, was bad — really bad.
Use an Android? Unfortunately, Google doesn’t have a built-in health app equivalent. That doesn’t mean you’re out of luck. Lots of folks like the free, privacy-friendly CommonHealth app. It’s from the nonprofit organization The Commons Project Foundation and connects with 15,000 health providers. Most of the options in the Play Store include some kind of data collection, but not this one. Data is stored on your device online, and the developers say it won’t be sold, shared or used for marketing.
Get tech-smarter on your schedule Award-winning host Kim Komando is your secret weapon for navigating tech.