Emory Healthcare has announced that Emory Hillandale Hospital, a 100-bed facility near Atlanta, will become the first hospital in the United States to fully operate using Apple products. This groundbreaking move marks a significant milestone in Apple’s expansion into the healthcare sector, with a full suite of devices including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, iMac, and Mac mini being integrated into hospital operations. These devices will function in tandem with Epic, the country’s leading electronic health record (EHR) software provider, to enhance efficiency and patient care.
Executives at Emory chose Apple products for their user-friendly design, reduced need for IT support, strong cybersecurity features, and reliable hardware performance. The devices’ seamless integration into healthcare workflows and long battery life are also key advantages. While this represents new territory for Emory, leaders say they will closely track the technology’s performance to ensure it contributes positively to quality of care and patient outcomes.
Dr. Joon Lee, CEO of Emory Healthcare, described the initiative as a potential game changer for the industry, adding that despite the inevitable challenges of adopting new systems, this project opens doors to transformative possibilities in healthcare delivery. The decision was also influenced by an incident last year when a faulty update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike paralyzed over 20,000 devices across Emory’s health system. Notably, Apple products remained fully functional during the outage. This resilience prompted further discussions with Apple and Epic engineers, who visited Emory to explore how the integration could be improved and expanded.
Dr. Ravi Thadhani, executive vice president for health affairs at Emory University, said the health system had already observed positive results from a pilot run of Apple devices on one hospital floor, with feedback from clinical staff described as “phenomenal.” That successful trial encouraged the leadership team to move forward with deploying Apple products across the entire Hillandale facility.
Emory Healthcare operates 10 hospitals and employs over 26,000 people, making it a significant academic health system in Georgia. Hillandale’s transition to Apple technology serves as a pilot that could shape future technology adoption across the network. If successful, the plan could extend to Emory’s other facilities, creating a new model for how hospitals integrate consumer technology into clinical environments.
Apple’s vice president of health, Dr. Sumbul Desai, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, saying that Apple believes in the power of technology to improve lives. She emphasized the importance of providing healthcare professionals with the best tools to deliver exceptional care. Epic’s executive vice president of research and development, Seth Howard, also underscored the significance of the collaboration. He noted that Epic and Apple have been partners for over a decade, and the recent introduction of Epic on Mac was a natural evolution of that relationship, making the full suite of Epic applications available on macOS.
This pioneering initiative not only marks a milestone in digital health but also sets a precedent for how consumer technology companies can partner with healthcare providers to modernize care delivery. If the Emory Hillandale launch proves successful, it could pave the way for broader adoption of Apple devices in hospitals across the nation.
READ MORE: