On the face of it, Google Health released this month in beta is just another personal medical record system similar to a hundred others including Microsoft's HealthVault. But Google has designed a specifically open health record: providers, payers and all kinds of service companies can use the published Application Programmer Interface to link their data to your Google health file.
Since Google is not a healthcare provider, the privacy restrictions of HIPPA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 don't apply. Health IT security guru Fred Trotter describes why this is a good thing, and we went brainstorming to see how open architecture might affect wellness, sex, eldercare, insurance and other health concerns.
Read Google Health 2018: Best Case Scenarios.
Read Google Health 2018: Worst Case Scenarios.
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Bernie:
Getting the data to the doc seems a simple computer task, but it's harder than it should be because the doc is not on-line -- or is on-line badly -- and the law says nobody can know your secrets. At the very least, everybody should carry a wallet card with the URL of our electronic health record and the permission for a doctor to use it if we're in trouble.
I hope your pelvis gets better quickly. And I think you mean Scott McNealy, not Larry Ellison. http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/1999/01/17538
Posted by: Jack Powers | June 07, 2008 at 07:58 PM
I didn't even know Google had this program going. I guess it's safe to assume Google has a hand in everything. This will probably take off and be ultra successful like everything else they have done.
Posted by: Utahospice | October 02, 2008 at 04:26 PM
One of the more challenging things for our family since our loved one’s vehicle accident in 2001 has been keeping track of all the medical information.
But I am not willing to put my parents' medical information online in a database. Instead, I use a PHR health organizer that's available as a journal in a 3-ring binder and/or software (Word/PDF files) that I can carry on a CD or flash drive. I can take it with us to doctor's appointments, and we've also used it in the emergency room. I can update the software files, then print it for my parents' binder. They don't use a computer.
It comes in handy at home when our visiting nurses need the same information. It's called the MyFastTrack Organizer and is available at http://MyFastTrackOrganizer.com
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Posted by: Dr. Davon Jacobson, M.D. | May 16, 2009 at 12:11 PM