The Journal of mHealth Vol 2 Issue 1 (February 2015) | Page 29

Digital Mobile Solution Places Travellers in Control of their Healthcare
access to their latest, accurate health data
in a form that can immediately inform
the health care professional.
Using Zaptag to manage all their health
data in one secure place would enable
individuals to be provided with the best
possible care. It would also keep them in
control of their own health as individuals become more concerned about their
wellbeing and are increasingly proactive
in managing their health and fitness.

a claim and details about International
Solutions cover.

to their personal medical records and
round-the-clock health services.”

The solution also allows Aviva’s customers
to get health advice in real-time and chat
instantly with healthcare providers – for
example their doctor, dentist, physiotherapist, optician, travel clinic - using IM, voice,
text, email and video from their desktop
using their own membership account.

The App is one of a rapidly growing list
of apps, devices and sensors compatible
with the Medelinked Health Cloud.

With its worldwide operations, Aviva
International Solutions had pioneered a
paper-based MyHealthpassport to ensure
its customers had key medical data handy
at all times. But as digitisation increasingly changed information management
in both insurance and medical care they
quickly saw the advantages for their customers, and their contracted health professionals, in providing medical records
that could be accessed electronically. This
in turn led to the work with Medelinked,
whereby they were able to use the Medelinked Health Cloud as the basis for the
development of an online version of the
MyHealthPassport system.
Teresa Rogers, head of international at
Aviva UK Health says: “The launch of
the app marked the next stage of Aviva’s
digitisation of its International Solutions
offer. As our international customers are
increasingly mobile across the globe and
remote working on mobile devices has
become the norm, we’re delighted to be
able to work with a specialist like Medelinked to improve customers’ experience
of their International Solutions cover by
providing them with safe mobile access

Medelinked, which began life as Zaptag, was founded in 2005 by CEO Ian
Gallifant in order to allow individuals
to use emerging mobile and cloud technologies to increase the effectiveness of
health care. Key to this vision is enabling
individuals to securely build their health
profile online and to connect and share
information with their network of
trusted health partners as they wish.

After the initial success of Zaptag, the
emergence of cloud storage during the
last decade allowed Gallifant and his
team to develop their offering. The
secure Medelinked Health Cloud now
allows user and practitioner generated
information to be accessed securely anywhere in the world without the need for
the patient to carry the memory stick.
Proven with Aviva, the secure Medelinked Health Cloud API is now allowing developers to create a series of new
applications that deliver real benefits to
the end user, healthcare providers and
health professionals alike.
Gallifant says, “We are now seeing a
dramatic shift in healthcare - individuals
have a heightened interest in their own
wellbeing and are increasingly interacting with personal technology to manage
their lives.

Prior to establishing Zaptag, Gallifant
had served extensively with the UK
armed forces overseas. This had made
him hugely aware of the importance of
combat doctors having immediate access
to an injured soldier’s medical records.

“At the same time, people are realising
they have choices, are gaining control and
knowledge and are proactively engaging
with health issues. The realisation of
support and education from online technology and apps, as well as their increasing availability, is driving new opportunities for improved healthcare services and
better outcomes.”

Basic information of this type had long
been recorded on the metal `dog tags`
of individual combatants. But Gallifant
realised the development of encrypted
USB memory sticks created the opportunity for civilians to carry their own
`health passport` with them, wherever
they may be, to be accessed by trusted
professionals at the point of care.
His vision was to help individuals
securely track and monitor their health
states and improvements more easily
and quickly. And, in sharing vital data
with their healthcare providers (doctor,
consultant, insurer), to ensure they have

“Personal electronic health records are
the way forward for effective healthcare
in the future. It starts with past health
information being stored in an easily
accessible way and provides users with
the ability to add to their records and
share information easily with the medical
providers they choose, to ensure the best
advice is given based on previous history,
wherever they are in the world. As the
information is personal to the user, it will
only be pr