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Google’s Personal Health Record Platform
- Posted May 20th 2008
- by Janice
The long-awaited release of Google Health (in Beta of course) makes it clear that there is a race on between Google and Microsoft to gain traction and share in the emerging market for personal health records (PHRs).
At Health Content Advisors, we have shifted our view of the relevancy of PHRs to publishers of health content. Previously, we tended to think that electronic health records were an IT utility for record-keeping and that they would take time to be adopted by a significant portion of consumers. Yes, publishers should be cognizant of the need to integrate their content with electronic medical records and PHRs, but more timely opportunities seemed to exist in the creation of standalone applications for researching healthcare information. We now view PHRs as a logical structure and filtering tool for health-related research and information seeking. Even if users don’t register and import or input data into secure (one hopes) online sites, the architecture of a personal health record is a sensible one for designing a healthcare information portal.
Google Health requires that users set up a profile that includes age, sex, height, conditions, medications, test results and more before allowing access to the specialized online health services included in Google Health (health topics from ADAM are the exception). I for one will not be entering this information exchange bargain with Google, but I know that I guard my privacy more highly than some others. Google is offering added privacy protection measures and will not allow advertising on Google Health, but it has said that it will aggregate anonymized content from Google Health to create trend data and other statistics that can be monetized via online ads or other means.
When viewed as a content service, Google Health sets the registration bar extremely high: imagine other content sites asking for such personal information before they allowed users to view content. Not many users would complete the registration process. However, when viewed as a utility for storing personal health information-and a utility that is promoted by one’s medical provider/institution–the same content becomes a beneficial value-added service. But, in either case, Google is dependent on a high level of trust from users.
Google doesn’t think small. As Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch says, Google Health is “a platform” and they are striving to be the most popular platform for personal electronic health records. We applaud Google for establishing a sound foundational architecture for personal health content and for bringing order to the scattered world of online health content. However, we have some issues with the conditions that are set for accessing the content.
(This is the first in a series of posts on GH. Our next post will focus on content, search and content partners.)
2 Responses to “Google’s Personal Health Record Platform”
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May 21st, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I noticed your article about Google Health and my company, MyMedicalRecords.com, was in the launch. We think it solves some of the challenges of making Personal Health Records easy to load up with information and share, while being highly security and protecting privacy.
Contrasting MMR to other companies in the PHR space, MMR delivers the most user-friendly, convenient and versatile web-based personal health record available today. Using proprietary patent pending technologies, complete patient information including actual lab test results, radiology reports and images, progress notes and all of a patient’s charts can be faxed, voiced or uploaded into the user’s password-secured account. Users do not need to install any special software or use any special hardware to use our service.
MMR also has integrated other advanced features, such as multilingual translation, a drug interaction database of more than 20,000 medications, calendaring for prescription refills and doctor appointments, and private voicemail for a doctor’s message and other personal uses.
There also is a special “Emergency Log-In” feature that allows a doctor to access a user’s account to view their most important medical information in the event of a medical emergency. To ensure individual privacy, specific data, such as prescriptions, allergies, blood type and copies of actual medical files or images, are pre-selected by the user for inclusion in the online read-only Emergency Folder. The site has been repeatedly tested to be sure no unauthorized person can break into any account.
In addition, MMR also includes an online ESafeDeposit Box feature that enables users to securely store any important document in a virtual “lock box” and access them anytime from anywhere using an Internet-connected computer or PDA. These documents can include advanced directives, wills, insurance policies, birth certificates, photos of Family, pets and property, and more. MMR is clearly one of the most complete user-friendly personal health records available today. I can provide you with more extensive information how MMR compares with other products on the market.
Incidentally, when Google Health was launched on May 19, MMR was included as an integrated service on its platform. This will enable users to move information from their Google Health account to their MyMedicalRecords account and vice versa. This will enhance the Google Health user experience by allowing the individual to store documents, images, and other personal information in MMR’s easy-to-use personal health record and will have the benefit of all the additional features MMR has that are not available directly within Google Health.
I would encourage you to visit MMR and join with a complimentary membership. Simply go to http://www.mymedicalrecords.com and sign up using registration code MMRMEDIA. I believe you will impressed with how comprehensive and easy-to-use it is. We hope that you will include us in any further discussions of the subject.
Sincerely,
Scott S. Smith
Director of Public Relations
MyMedicalRecords.com
10100 Santa Monica Blvd. #430
Los Angeles CA 90067
Ext 123 (Cell: 310/254-4051)
ssmith@mmrmail.com
Encl.
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:39 pm
[…] with Google and visibility in the list of member services for Google Health. As pointed out in our earlier entry, a user has to choose to sign up with your service and take added steps to register. Unless the […]