Google to Allow Storage of Personal Health Records Online

Google (Mountain View, CA, USA) will soon open a new web site that will allow patients to store their personal health records (PHRs) on the site and electronically invite physicians to view the information.

Google chose The Cleveland Clinic (OH, USA) to test the new site. The pilot project will involve 1,500 to 10,000 patients who will be offered the tools to manage their medical records online and coordinate care with doctors using a PHR suite called eCleveland Clinic MyChart. Each health profile, including information about prescriptions, allergies, and medical histories, will be protected by a password.

The trial is intended to validate the secure exchange of patient medical record data including prescriptions, medical conditions, and allergies between the Cleveland Clinic PHR to a secure Google profile in a live clinical delivery setting, with the goal of giving patients the ability to interact with multiple physicians, healthcare service providers, and pharmacies. Google views its expansion into health records management as a logical extension because its search engine already processes millions of requests from people trying to find about more information about an injury, illness or recommended treatment.

"Patients are more proactively managing their own healthcare information,” said C. Martin Harris, chief information officer of The Cleveland Clinic. "This collaboration is intended to help Google test features and services that will ultimately allow all Americans (as patients) to direct the exchange of their medical information between their various providers without compromising their privacy.”

The new web site will compete with similar sites such as HealthVault operated by Microsoft (Seattle, WA, USA), and Revolution Health Group (Oldsmar, FL, USA), founded in July 2005 by Steve Case, who previously co-founded America Online (AOL).


Related Links:
Google
The Cleveland Clinic
Microsoft