Google Health and More
Today in a webcast from the Googleplex, Google Health was opened to the public. All the features are now available to the U.S. at least. I participated in the pilot for the Cleveland Clinic as a participant in MyChart and found it easy to use, to import information and add more specifics. Now I can import my Google Health profile back into MyChart. Pretty cool. Also added the Walk for Good widget to my iGoogle home page. 100 users have signed up already.
This has already hit the tech and mainstream news outlets already with discussions about privacy, questions about Google's motivation and benefits for consumers.
I think Google is adding some value here. There are making an effort to protect privacy while promoting health. And their partnerships indicate a desire to make this a broad umbrella for addressing health care issues.
I encourage you to try Google Health before making a quick judgement.
Technorati: Google Health
This has already hit the tech and mainstream news outlets already with discussions about privacy, questions about Google's motivation and benefits for consumers.
I think Google is adding some value here. There are making an effort to protect privacy while promoting health. And their partnerships indicate a desire to make this a broad umbrella for addressing health care issues.
I encourage you to try Google Health before making a quick judgement.
Technorati: Google Health
John,
I agree with you about not rushing to judge Google Health. The majority of blog posts and articles covering the launch evidence concern over record-sharing and HIPAA, when in reality, it’s far too early to tell how things will pan out. No doubt Google will take every security precaution, though, considering how many partners are involved.
Yet, I have to admit that I am confused about the "Find a Doctor" tool—and I’ve been looking around for more analysis on it. Right now, if you use Find a Doctor to search by specialty and location, you’re going to get hundreds of results. Pretty daunting! It seems like the tool is designed to allow a user to find his or her current physician's page in Google Maps and link it to Google Health.
Considering the volume of results, I doubt people will use Google Health to actually find a doctor. (That would change if one could filter the results further.)
Since you were involved in the pilot program, do you have any insight into how this tool might evolve over time? Just curious.
Thanks for the thoughtful post.
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