OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Health with medical record access

OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Health, a new feature in ChatGPT aimed at helping users manage health and wellness information.

The company said the tool allows users to connect medical records and wellness apps, such as Apple Health and MyFitnessPal, to receive more personalized responses.

ChatGPT Health is available to a limited group of early users, with plans to expand access on web and iOS in the coming weeks, excluding the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK.

Medical record integrations are only supported in the US, and connecting Apple Health requires iOS.

OpenAI said data privacy is a focus, with health chats stored separately and not used to train its models.

The product was developed with feedback from over 260 physicians across 60 countries, the company said.

OpenAI emphasized that ChatGPT Health is designed to support, not replace, medical care, and is not intended for diagnosis or treatment.

🔗 Source: OpenAI

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

EHR integrations remain unclear despite “connect medical records” claim

OpenAI says users can “connect medical records”. No source confirms electronic health record (EHR) or personal health record (PHR) networks work at launch, so hospitals cannot judge fit.
Standard ChatGPT does not meet the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) because protected health information (PHI) may be logged and used for training 1. OpenAI can sign Business Associate Agreements (BAAs), the contracts HIPAA requires for vendors that handle PHI, in limited enterprise setups 1. There is no confirmation that ChatGPT Health uses such contracts.
Provider IT teams face HIPAA risk if they upload PHI without verified BAAs 1. They need safeguards like encryption at rest (encrypting stored data), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and audit logging (traceable records of access and changes) 1.

European exclusion creates opportunity for GDPR-compliant health AI providers

ChatGPT Health is not available in the EU, Switzerland, or the UK. That gap gives European health tech vendors room to build General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and EU AI Act compliant chatbots with data residency.
The European Union AI Act treats clinical decision support (software that helps clinicians make diagnostic or treatment decisions) as high-risk, with duties for risk management, transparency, and human oversight 2. ChatGPT Health may struggle to meet those rules.
EU health tech companies can plug into MyHealth@EU (the EU’s cross-border eHealth network) plus Open eHealth National Contact Point (OpenNCP) gateways 2 to deliver semantic interoperability (data shared that preserves clinical meaning) for health systems.