Apple's HealthKit technology already in 14 major hospitals in the US, how will Google Fit keep up?

More than half of the 23 major hospitals in the nation are already using or will soon use Apple's new HealthKit technology, according to a report from Reuters.

Apple released HealthKit in June last year as part of its iOS 8 update. The program allows doctors to monitor patient blood pressure, heart rate, weight and other health factors remotely and compare them to the patient's overall health history.

Reuters research has determined that 14 of the top 23 hospitals are either already testing HealthKit or are in talks to do so.

"Those trying out Apple's service included at least eight of the 17 hospitals on one list ranking the best hospitals, The U.S. News & World Report's Honor Roll," Reuters reported.

The potential benefits of the program is that it allows doctors to know about possible health problems before they get increasingly worse would be a major boon for patients who might otherwise be very ill before seeing a doctor. It would also help lower the number of times a patient actually has to go to a hospital, which hospitals get into trouble for under the Affordable Care Act.

According to Reuters, one of hospitals piloting HealthKit is Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans. Working with Apple and healthcare software provider Epic Systems, Ochsner has been using the technology to monitor patients with high blood pressure.

"If we had more data, like daily weights, we could give the patient a call before they need to be hospitalized," chief clinical transformation officer Dr. Richard Milani told Reuters.

Apple is competing with Google and Samsung, which have launched similar services. Those services are only now starting to roll out for testing, which means Apple is ahead of the game. But many of the hospitals say they also want to test the Google Fit service since most smartphones run Android.