Feb

28

Google Health

Posted by cameron

February 28, 2008 |

Personal health records are now center stage in the ongoing battle between Microsoft and Google. A few months ago Microsoft announced their ‘health vault’ product, which is currently in Beta testing and can be seen here. I test drove their product and posted about it earlier. Today I saw news that Google is coming out with their version called ‘Google Health’. The program is currently under test at a Cleveland hospital and you can read a little about it at this blog site.

I don’t know how others feel but I’m not ready to leave my health records with what is basically an advertising company. Somehow that just doesn’t seem to fit. I understand WebMD also has a program which seems to make more sense. I think Google has an uphill struggle here to make anyone want to use their system. I can’t help wondering why a Cleveland hospital is getting into this unless Google is paying them to.

It will be years before programs like this will be trusted. Doesn’t it seem more likely that a large healthcare player will move into this space? A company that already keeps some of our records, with a level of trust already built in, is much more likely to succeed than either Microsoft or Google. A company that already has infrastructure and healthcare connections will probably wipe them both out.  This is not a technology issue and these are technology/advertising companies. It’s not for me.


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