Google Health beta test begins
Update 12:50 p.m. PDT: I added more detail.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–Google on Monday launched a beta test of its Google Health service to archive medical records and find medical services.
In some areas, Google’s expansion from just search takes on incumbent powers; Google Docs, for example, competes with Microsoft Office. But Google Health competes more with a tangled mess of regulatory and privacy complexity.
“Personal health records is an area that’s just beginning,” said Roni Zeiger, the Google Health product manager. “The fact that only few people are using those tools means we”–the computing and health care industries–”haven’t gotten it right yet.”
Google has been talking about the health initiative for a year. Now, “we actually have the product,” said Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience. “You can sign up today. It is open to the public.”
Google Health is now live, in beta testing.
(Credit: Google)
The service will never sell a patient’s information and will only share it with the patient’s permission, Zeiger said. And a user can revoke rights to share at any time.
“No Google Health user will ever find their Google Health information as search results anywhere on Google. That information is yours,” Zeiger said.
To join, users must agree to various terms of use, including this: “When you provide your information through Google Health, you give Google a license to use and distribute it in connection with Google Health and other Google services.”
Google essentially creates a master record of an individual’s health information by importing data from health-related institutions or by letting the individual add it themselves.
“Google on your behalf is storing a copy of your records,” Zeiger said. Connections with medical organizations can be set to update regularly to stay up to date.
The service integrates with medical records already stored electronically at pharmacies including Walgreens, Medco, RxAmerica, and Longs Drugs; medical facilities such as Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic; Quest Diagnostics, which stores medical test results; and AllScripts, which stores medical records for more than 40,000 doctors. For importing doctor records from AllScripts, the doctor must approve the connection to Google Health, said AllScripts spokesman Todd Stein, but the company’s software is enabled to make the link.
If a patient permits sharing, right now it’s an all-or-nothing affair, Zeiger said, so if you want to share your data but keep information about a sexually transmitted disease secret, you’d best wait for now. Google is working on making a finer-grained permission system, Zeiger said.
The service right now is only available in the United States, but Google will expand it, he added, but Google Health must navigate choppy waters.
“Health care is more complex than other products Google launches. Even at the level of privacy and regulation, we have a lot of homework to do and a lot of learning,” Zeiger said.
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Google Health beta test begins
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