Apple is allegedly working with health startup Health Gorilla to bring patient medical records to the smartphone. According to a CNBC report, the Sunnyvale, California-based company is helping Apple bring diagnostic data like blood work into the iPhone. Apple’s rumored efforts to create a personal health record, if true, are going to have to overcome the same challenges that Google Health faced six years ago. 

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The Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team has entered into a three-year partnership deal with Fitbit that will see the team using Fitbit’s devices and platforms as well as emblazoning the Fitbit logo on its jerseys.

“We’re excited to partner with an organization that recognizes and embraces the powerful role that innovative technology, data and analytics can play in improving performance,” Tim Rosa, SVP and chief marketing officer at Fitbit, said in a statement. “Wearable technology is in a position to change the sports and fitness landscape, and we’re committed to working hand-in-hand with the Timberwolves to identify new ways that Fitbit can provide value throughout the organization and also bring an engaging experience tied to health and wellness to fans and the community.”

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Modernizing Medicine, which makes a mobile-based EHR for specialists, will work with prior authorization software maker (and soon-to-be McKesson subsidiary) CoverMyMeds to add CoverMyMeds’s electronic prior authorization as a feature on Modernizing Medicine’s EHR, EMA. 

“As a practicing physician, I understand the time consuming and expensive frustration of the back and forth pre-approval process for certain medications,” Dr. Michael Sherling, chief medical officer and co-founder of Modernizing Medicine, said in a statement. “Streamlining prior authorizations with CoverMyMeds will help solve a pain point for providers and their patients – patients should receive the right medications in a timely manner, and physicians and their staff can save valuable time.”

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In other EHR integration news, healthcare payments company Patientco will integrate with Epic to bring new payment features into Epic and MyChart for providers that use both services.

“Our clients spend a lot of time and money investing in an EHR that’s right for their organization, and our integration with Epic helps them further leverage that investment by easily connecting them to our payment platform,” Patientco CEO Bird Blitch said in a statement. “It’s our goal to give health systems the best tools to improve collections by engaging the patient in a better payment experience.”

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Aledade is joining forces with UnitedHealthcare, marking its first accountable care program for Medicare Advantage plan members – more than 15,000 of whom could participate in the new initiative.

Aledade – which was founded three years ago this month by former National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari, MD – will work with UnitedHealthcare in Arkansas to put technology and clinical best practices to work enhancing care coordination and promoting more team-based patient care.

"With this partnership, our Arkansas accountable care program now offers the benefits of Aledade’s model of care whether patients are covered by Medicaid, traditional Medicare or Medicare Advantage,” Mostashari said in a statement. More.

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Health coaching program Kurbo Health is working with Singapore’s Health Promotion Board to offer Kurbo’s weight loss platform to Singaporean school children aged 5 through 17. The deal follows on two pilots, one of which showed that 70 percent of students in the program lost weight.

 “We are thrilled to introduce Kurbo in Singapore as part of our international expansion strategy to provide a convenient option for busy parents and children to improve health outcomes,” Kurbo cofounder and CEO Joanna Strober said in a statement .  “Together we hope to spread the word that there is an effective and sustainable solution to help the entire family eat better, and feel better.”

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Newton, North Carolina-based 24/7 Kid Doc, a company that offers telemedicine to public schools, signed a deal with the Montgomery County School District in Georgia, the company’s second pilot program (the first was conducted in North Carolina).

According to Tim Shannon, 24/7 Kid Doc, Inc. CEO, "We are excited to have partnered with innovative school districts in both NC and GA that acknowledge that the future of school healthcare is Telemedicine.  We continue to be very encouraged by the reception we are getting from other school superintendents throughout the South and look forward to announcing more school districts and pilot programs in the coming months.”

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Mobile clinical trials startup goBalto announced a partnership with Citeline, a part of Informa’s pharma intelligence vertical. Citeline products Trialtrove and Sitetrove, which help pharma clients find clinical trial sites, will be integrated with goBalto’s Select platform.

"We are excited to be working with goBalto for our mutual clients' benefit in accelerating clinical research. Our customers need an evidence-based site selection process with the ability to integrate data from multiple sources to drive further optimization efforts in the industry. Much of our strategy in 2017 revolves around adding value for our clients through strategic partnerships and we look forward to furthering the relationship with goBalto to assist our customers in achieving their goals," Jason Tse, head of strategic partnerships at Citeline, said in a statement.

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In other clinical trials news, Clinical Ink and Integron will work together to bring Integron’s mobile device and sensor expertise together with Clinical Ink’s patient engagement technology. 

“More and more clinical trial sponsors want to leverage mobile devices to engage patients and capture study data anytime and anywhere,” Jonathan Andrus, chief operating officer at Clinical Ink, said in a statement. “SureSource Engage gives sponsors the option to deploy an integrated ePRO, patient engagement and IoT platform that integrates with multiple sensors in either a provisioned or a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) model. We partnered with Integron to leverage their experience managing devices and data throughout the world to ensure we can meet our customers’ IoT provisioning demands for clinical trials, globally.”

“The clinical trial space represents an important market for Integron,” Bryan Lubel, president of Integron, said in a statement. “Our wireless and mobile device management (MDM) services, which enable secure and seamless data capture through connected devices and sensors, combined with the patient engagement and data access capabilities of Clinical Ink, are providing cost-effective, seamless delivery and technology management to deliver successful clinical trial engagements.”