Your personal health: Google Health is live
May 19, 2008
I have an account, so it better be, or that is one good phishing scheme. Just kidding of course. Techmeme is all over this piece of news. The service launches with a familiar “googl-ey” look and feel to it, one that I like.
The service does not come across looking too bloated either. Right now, it is a simple Personalized Health Record with a catalog of items that can be added, e.g. procedures, medications, etc
You also have the ability to import information from a number of services (and Google has collected an impressive list)
In addition you can link your profile to a number of websites as well (e.g. The Cleveland Clinics MyConsult program). There are some interesting design choices as well. A search result opens in a new window/tab, as does clicking “read about health topics”.
That’s a quick synopsis (I haven’t given the site a full test yet). I can see it evolving into partner relationships with other sites (23andme, PatientsLikeMe are obvious ones).
But there are some concerns as well. I agree with a lot of what Larry Dignan had to say about the ToS, esp the lack of HIPAA protection. I also really wish there was an export option somewhere (I couldn’t find one).
In the long term, the PHR ecosystem will mature, with Microsoft and Google both playing key roles, perhaps as personal aggregators, with other specialized services providing domain specific information. There is a lot of trust that needs to be gained here, so Google has to be careful. I will re-iterate my own feelings on this issue. I trust Google with my info a lot more than the government or a health care system.
Update: Jude O’Reilly on the Trusera blog makes an excellent point about HIPAA not really applying to Google. I have heard others, including personal genetics companies make the same point. On technical grounds and for purposes that HIPAA was originally designed for, I agree. However, for the public, which is always afraid of insurers getting their hands on the data, HIPAA = Trust. It doesn’t have to HIPAA per se, esp since HIPAA is US only, but some framework, perhaps developed by PHR providers themselves (always better than government regulations), would definitely help reduce that level of anxiety.
Technorati Tags: Google Health, Personalized Health Record, PHR
Posted by Deepak Singh | Filed Under Healthcare, Software & Internet, Your personal health
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While I don't share your antipathy toward government regulation -- it's far more accountable than most voluntary industry "guidelines," for one thing -- I agree that PHR vendors, and much of Health 2.0 in general, should probably be looking for more formal ways to bind themselves to privacy pledges. I can't imagine anyone being particularly reassured by Google TOS unless they're already on Medicare and thus beyond the reach of medical underwriters.
Anyway, I suspect this sort of thing is going to face a long, slow road to general adoption for a variety of reasons I laid out here: http://industry.bnet.com/healthcare/2008/05/21/....
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-Steve
www.helixhealth.org
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I wish deCODEme would establish a similar phenotype-service. :)
I think, as of now, the problem is that many physicians do not give patients copies of their medical records!!!
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Quite frankly it's way too early to do that. Most physicians wouldn't know the answers either.
As for the last issue, that's an important one. IMO patients should own their medical records, but the risk there is they might not share everything with their physicians; a dangerous place to be
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