Online Health Records at Google
Friday Feb 22, 2008Online Health Records at Google in General Healthcare
Last year, Microsoft introduced a
service called HealthVault which allows people to store medical and health
information online. The co-founder of AOL also unveiled online health
information storage at Revolution Health.
Now, it’s Google’s turn.
Google has announced they will start a pilot health information storage program with up to 10,000 volunteers who are patients at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, reported USA Today.
The Cleveland Clinic already uses an online information system for their 120,000 patients —participants in the pilot program will just allow their information to be accessed with Google’s service.
Microsoft’s HealthVault is capable of storing and managing information about your prescription drugs, lab results, doctors, health history documents. It also will share your information with other health web sites.
Google’s service will probably have many similar features.
The online tool won’t be open to the general public, and Google is keeping the details of their plans largely a secret.
Even though many experts and lawmakers are urging health care providers to use health information technology, there could be a privacy risk when it comes to personally storing medical records.
According to the USA Today report, medical information on these third-party services may not be protected by established privacy laws. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), passed in 1996, included a provision locking patient/doctor confidentiality and privacy.
But Microsoft’s HealthVault and Google’s pilot program aren’t bound by HIPAA, explained Pam Dixon, the executive director of the World Privacy Forum.
That means it may make it easier for outside sources to legally obtain personal medical information.
Others argue the service is only about patients taking an active role in their own health care.
“We believe patients should be able to easily access and manage their own health information,” said Google executive Marissa Mayer, who oversees the program.
