Health Informatics Blog

Interesting commentary on the New England Journal of Medicine article about new commercial PHRs published in the NYT:

In an article in The New England Journal of Medicine, two leading researchers warn that the entry of big companies like Microsoft and Google into the field of personal health records could drastically alter the practice of clinical research and raise new challenges to the privacy of patient records.

The authors, Dr. Kenneth D. Mandl and Dr. Isaac S. Kohane, are longtime proponents of the benefits of electronic patient records to improve care and help individuals make smarter health decisions.

But their concern, stated in the article published Wednesday and in an interview, is that the medical profession and policy makers have not begun to grapple with the implications of companies like Microsoft and Google becoming the hosts for vast stores of patient information.

The arrival of these new corporate entrants, the authors write, promises to bring “a seismic change” in the control and stewardship of patient information.

Link

Eric Schmidt delivers a keynote speech at HIMSS 2008 on Google’s activities in the healthcare space.

The previously non-functioning Google Health Login is now directing to the Google Coop Health section.

A non-functioning log-in page has appeared for Google Heatlh:

https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=health

 If anyone manages to get in, let me know! The ‘tour’ doesn’t work at the moment either.

Welcome to Google Health

With Google Health, you can:

• Build online health profiles that belong to you
• Download medical records from doctors and pharmacies
• Get personalized health guidance and relevant news
• Find qualified doctors and connect to time-saving services
• Share selected information with family or caregivers

Take a quick tour

Source: http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-01-23-n83.html

Google is losing the boss of its Google Health project, Adam Bosworth. Danny Sullivan received the following statement from Google:

Adam is a great talent and was instrumental in starting Google Health. He is now on vacation and has decided to pursue other opportunities after that. Marissa Mayer is taking over the health team in the interim until a new team leader takes over. Google is moving forward with work on our health products.

 Screenshots of the new Google Health project emerged last month on Google Blogoscoped:

Adam’s bio is still available on Google’s management page.