Aetna Upgrades iTriage Consumer Health Care App for the iPad

 Posted on Wednesday Jun 20th 2012 by Brian T. Horowitz. Aetna has announced that its health care app iTriage will run as a native application on the iPad, taking full advantage of its high-resolution Retina display. Aetna has announced that it has optimized the company's iTriage health resource for the Apple iPad with a new native app. iTriage is a Web-based service that allows consumers to research symptoms, look up medical providers and schedule appointments. It provides information on diseases and medical procedures, and uses GPS to direct patients to providers' facilities. The company redesigned the app to fit the full high-resolution display of the Apple tablet, said Dan Tucker, iTriage product manager, who blogged about the new iPad version.

The app can take full advantage of the iPad's Retina display, according to Aetna. iTriage is designed on the iPad in a "sweeping panel" format, in which one column lists a patient's condition, such as a puncture wound, and the middle column lists the definition. The third column shows a list of medications that can treat the problem, a location where patients can find treatment and an estimate of services for care. In addition, the iPhone iTriage version now allows consumers to search for providers by category, including Emergency Departments, Urgent Care, Retail Clinics, Physicians, Pharmacies and Additional Outpatient Clinics. Aetna acquired Healthagen, the developer of iTriage, Dec. 15, 2011, and relaunched iTriage March 5. The company announced the new iPad version June 19. The app's Symptom-to-Provider feature leads users through a question-and-answer process of connecting symptoms and causes as well as finding providers. iTriage is the first software tool on Aetna's open-data platform called CarePass, which allows consumers to share data and manage their health across applications using a single sign-on. CarePass is open to any insurance carrier, consumer or third party, Mark Bertolini, Aetna's chairman and CEO, announced at a March 5 relaunch event for iTriage. An iPhone app for iTriage launched in March 2009. Since then, the app has reached 6 million downloads, according to Aetna. "Our vision is to help the world make better health care decisions," Dr. Peter Hudson, co-founder and CEO of iTriage, said in a statement. "Expanding the availability and functionality of iTriage on the devices that consumers are increasingly using helps more people take control of and conveniently manage their health care decisions." iTriage allows patients to rate providers using technology from Vitals.com. The app also now features an ER Check-In feature for hospitals and an Early Check-In capability for urgent care clinics. Hudson and Dr. Wayne Guerra, iTriage's co-founder and chief medical officer, developed the service in 2008. On June 19, Aetna also announced that it would integrate its wellness platform Resources for Living with Consult A Doctor's telehealth platform, which allows patients to connect with doctors using video, phone or email. The combined platform, Consult A Doctor Plus, offers 24/7 phone consultations, patient advocacy bill review and mediation, electronic health record (EHR) access along with legal and financial consulting. "With Consult A Doctor Plus, we are able to work hand-in-hand with Aetna to reach beyond traditional, primary care settings and explore new opportunities within the telemedicine spectrum of health care," said Wolf Shlagman, founder and CEO of Consult A Doctor, in a statement.