Google,
Cleveland Clinic to Test Health Records Initiative
[Posted 02/21/2008]
Google
has announced that it will be using the Cleveland
Clinic hospital in Cleveland, Ohio as the pilot site
for its new personal health records initiative. The
two organizations hope the trial will lead to the
creation of a national system for sharing electronic
medical records.
The
Cleveland Clinic already operates its own
electronic personal health record system,
eCleveland Clinic MyChart, holding the records of
100,000 patients. It will invite between 1,500 and
10,000 of them to have their medical records
transferred to their Google accounts. Prescription
information, medical histories, and details about
conditions and allergies will be included in the
data. Those personal health records, or PHRs, will
be accessible outside of the Cleveland Clinic.
Marissa Mayer, Google’s
vice president of search projects and user
experience, said “We chose Cleveland Clinic as one
of the first partners to pilot our new health
offering because as a provider, they already
empower their patients by giving them online tools
that help them manage their medical records online
and coordinate care with their doctors.”
Additionally, Cleveland Clinic president and CEO
Delos M. Cosgrove is a member of Google’s
Health Advisory Council.
Google
isn’t
the only tech titan looking to change the
healthcare industry. AOL founder Steve Case has
launched a new company, Revolution Health;
InterActiveCorp has invested in several
health-related start-ups; and Microsoft has been
working on a medical record service.
Privacy is bound to be a concern for potential
users of the system for other reasons: health
information is sensitive because of the effects
that certain conditions can have on job prospects
or insurance rates. For those reasons the storage,
transmission and use of such information is tightly
regulated by the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the US.
Opponents of projects like Google’s
have already begun to make themselves heard. The
World Privacy Forum, which has highlighted concerns
about medical identity theft in the past, has
already issued a report critical of Google’s
effort as well as other PHR projects. Not only is
security an issue, the nonprofit has said, so is
the likelihood that marketers and other corporate
entities will be able to exploit otherwise
confidential data. Google is of particular concern
to some privacy advocates because the company
already has so much data about its users.
“While
PHRs may have some laudable goals,” the report by
privacy consultant Robert Geller read, “they are
also a tempting target for companies or others that
want to evade whatever privacy protections remain
in the health care system in order to make a
profit.”
Related Links:
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog
CNET News Blog
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