Google, Microsoft Vie to Lead Health IT Change

WASHINGTON — Search engine giant Google has joined software giant Microsoft in an attempt to revolutionize health care information technology, one patient at a time.

Google launched Google Health this spring with the aim of establishing itself as the leading repository of personal health records (PHR) and positioning itself as a primary clearinghouse for clinical information, self-care tools, and provider ratings to help patients make educated health care decisions.

Google Health emerged just as the smoke began to clear from Microsoft's launch of the HealthVault PHR platform last fall.

Both companies see individual patients, not health care systems, as the primary locus of change for health care information technology, and both provide secure user-friendly systems for individuals to aggregate all of their health care records, data, diagnostic images, laboratory results, and medical histories. The hope is to put an end to the fragmentation, duplication, and lack of portability that characterize paper-based health record-keeping.

Executives at both HealthVault and Google Health said they believe that digitally enabled patients will help push more doctors to implement electronic medical records systems in their offices.

Todd Wiseman, head of Google's Federal Enterprise Team, said the creation of Google Health was a natural move. “We now have more than 1 billion people worldwide using Google every day. [It] is the No. 1 search engine for health information, and health topics are a top search category for Google,” he said at the fifth annual World Health Care Congress.

Google Health will eventually enable people to store their PHRs and allow them to decide who can have access to those records. Users can also store medical contacts and other relevant information. “Users should have easy access to their medical records … [which] should follow the patient and exist in an environment of interoperability, portability, privacy, and security. We don't hold our users' data hostage.”

The system can automatically import physician reports, prescription history, and lab results. Eventually, it will enable people to schedule appointments, refill prescriptions, and employ personal health and wellness tools, Mr. Wiseman said. The PHR system also offers health-oriented search functions, clinical trial matching, and a host of other health management tools that can be integrated with a user's e-mail account.

There will be no charge to patients for storing PHRs, and doctors will be able to access patients' PHRs—with patient permission—at no cost.

“We don't have any plans for ads within the Google Health product,” Mr. Wiseman said, although the search returns will arrive with ads and sponsored placements, as is the case with every Google search.

Google is currently running a pilot field test of the Google Health system in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic.

Mr. Wiseman said Google is an independent company that is not tied to a health care plan or provider system, so a Google Health PHR is completely portable. And it has massive data storage capacity, which is important, given that it will need to store files containing x-rays and MRI, he added.

Microsoft has been involved in health care IT solutions for hospitals and health plans for more than a decade, but its PHR efforts, in the form of HealthVault, has been up and running since last fall. It is essentially a consumer-controlled hub for gathering and controlling information from various sectors of a person's “health care ecosystem,” such as data the employer, various doctors, hospitals, payers, and pharmacies, according to George Scriban, senior product manager for HealthVault.

HealthVault is also free to consumers. It tries to solve one of the most frustrating health issues for ordinary people: fragmentation. “Fragmentation of delivery of care has a lot to do with fragmentation of someone's health care identity … The ideal is to have all of one's information, presentable and portable and useful to any and all pro- viders,” Mr. Scriban said in an interview.

Although some physicians get nervous at the thought of patients in control of their own medical records, Mr. Scriban said systems such as HealthVault and Google Health are simply systematizing what already happens informally. “When a patient gets a referral from one doctor to another, it is really that patient who acts as an information transporter, telling the new doctor his or her medical history, medication use, and in some cases actually transferring paper records.”

HealthVault tries to facilitate that process, which Mr. Scriban contends will reduce errors, prevent loss of important information, eliminate redundancy, and give physicians a fuller picture of their patients' health. The system is being designed to interface with many different electronic medical records systems.

HealthVault and Google Health are similar in that they are both backed by large companies with a lot of resources and have both looked at the same problem and arrived at similar conclusions, he said. “One conclusion is that you cannot revolutionize health care in one big step. The other is that the consumer is really the agent of change in all of this.”

Still, there are some differences, he said. Microsoft is primarily focused on enabling people to manage their health information, and less engaged in providing self-care tools, something that Google is pursuing.

Both companies are trying to line up partners across the health care landscape, including insurers and managed care plans, information service providers, medical organizations, and patient advocacy groups.

Microsoft recently partnered with Kaiser Permanente, an integrated health plan with more than 8 million members, to test the transfer of data from Kaiser's personal health records into HealthVault.

The pilot project, launched last month, is open to Kaiser's 159,000 employees. The idea is to combine the clinical data entered by Kaiser physicians, which is available in the Kaiser personal health record, with patient-entered health information and clinical information from providers outside of the Kaiser system. Kaiser officials plan to reevaluate the pilot later in the year before expanding it to its members.

Google's Mr. Wiseman said it is important to create alliances with health plans because many people will not use it unless their health plans support it. Among Google Health's new partners is HealthGrades, a private company that is a leader in online physician and hospital ratings. Currently, Web users seeking HealthGrades ratings for a doctor or hospital must pay a fee. Under the partnership agreement, users would have free access to the ratings.

Google Health and Microsoft's HealthVault aim to make consumers agents of change. 2008 Microsoft Corporation/Google Health

WASHINGTON — Search engine giant Google has joined software giant Microsoft in an attempt to revolutionize health care information technology, one patient at a time.

Google launched Google Health this spring with the aim of establishing itself as the leading repository of personal health records (PHR) and positioning itself as a primary clearinghouse for clinical information, self-care tools, and provider ratings to help patients make educated health care decisions.

Google Health emerged just as the smoke began to clear from Microsoft's launch of the HealthVault PHR platform last fall.

Both companies see individual patients, not health care systems, as the primary locus of change for health care information technology, and both provide secure user-friendly systems for individuals to aggregate all of their health care records, data, diagnostic images, laboratory results, and medical histories. The hope is to put an end to the fragmentation, duplication, and lack of portability that characterize paper-based health record-keeping.

Executives at both HealthVault and Google Health said they believe that digitally enabled patients will help push more doctors to implement electronic medical records systems in their offices.

Todd Wiseman, head of Google's Federal Enterprise Team, said the creation of Google Health was a natural move. “We now have more than 1 billion people worldwide using Google every day. [It] is the No. 1 search engine for health information, and health topics are a top search category for Google,” he said at the fifth annual World Health Care Congress.

Google Health will eventually enable people to store their PHRs and allow them to decide who can have access to those records. Users can also store medical contacts and other relevant information. “Users should have easy access to their medical records … [which] should follow the patient and exist in an environment of interoperability, portability, privacy, and security. We don't hold our users' data hostage.”

The system can automatically import physician reports, prescription history, and lab results. Eventually, it will enable people to schedule appointments, refill prescriptions, and employ personal health and wellness tools, Mr. Wiseman said. The PHR system also offers health-oriented search functions, clinical trial matching, and a host of other health management tools that can be integrated with a user's e-mail account.

There will be no charge to patients for storing PHRs, and doctors will be able to access patients' PHRs—with patient permission—at no cost.

“We don't have any plans for ads within the Google Health product,” Mr. Wiseman said, although the search returns will arrive with ads and sponsored placements, as is the case with every Google search.

Google is currently running a pilot field test of the Google Health system in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic.

Mr. Wiseman said Google is an independent company that is not tied to a health care plan or provider system, so a Google Health PHR is completely portable. And it has massive data storage capacity, which is important, given that it will need to store files containing x-rays and MRI, he added.

Microsoft has been involved in health care IT solutions for hospitals and health plans for more than a decade, but its PHR efforts, in the form of HealthVault, has been up and running since last fall. It is essentially a consumer-controlled hub for gathering and controlling information from various sectors of a person's “health care ecosystem,” such as data the employer, various doctors, hospitals, payers, and pharmacies, according to George Scriban, senior product manager for HealthVault.

HealthVault is also free to consumers. It tries to solve one of the most frustrating health issues for ordinary people: fragmentation. “Fragmentation of delivery of care has a lot to do with fragmentation of someone's health care identity … The ideal is to have all of one's information, presentable and portable and useful to any and all pro- viders,” Mr. Scriban said in an interview.

Although some physicians get nervous at the thought of patients in control of their own medical records, Mr. Scriban said systems such as HealthVault and Google Health are simply systematizing what already happens informally. “When a patient gets a referral from one doctor to another, it is really that patient who acts as an information transporter, telling the new doctor his or her medical history, medication use, and in some cases actually transferring paper records.”

HealthVault tries to facilitate that process, which Mr. Scriban contends will reduce errors, prevent loss of important information, eliminate redundancy, and give physicians a fuller picture of their patients' health. The system is being designed to interface with many different electronic medical records systems.

HealthVault and Google Health are similar in that they are both backed by large companies with a lot of resources and have both looked at the same problem and arrived at similar conclusions, he said. “One conclusion is that you cannot revolutionize health care in one big step. The other is that the consumer is really the agent of change in all of this.”

Still, there are some differences, he said. Microsoft is primarily focused on enabling people to manage their health information, and less engaged in providing self-care tools, something that Google is pursuing.

Both companies are trying to line up partners across the health care landscape, including insurers and managed care plans, information service providers, medical organizations, and patient advocacy groups.

Microsoft recently partnered with Kaiser Permanente, an integrated health plan with more than 8 million members, to test the transfer of data from Kaiser's personal health records into HealthVault.

The pilot project, launched last month, is open to Kaiser's 159,000 employees. The idea is to combine the clinical data entered by Kaiser physicians, which is available in the Kaiser personal health record, with patient-entered health information and clinical information from providers outside of the Kaiser system. Kaiser officials plan to reevaluate the pilot later in the year before expanding it to its members.

Google's Mr. Wiseman said it is important to create alliances with health plans because many people will not use it unless their health plans support it. Among Google Health's new partners is HealthGrades, a private company that is a leader in online physician and hospital ratings. Currently, Web users seeking HealthGrades ratings for a doctor or hospital must pay a fee. Under the partnership agreement, users would have free access to the ratings.

Google Health and Microsoft's HealthVault aim to make consumers agents of change. 2008 Microsoft Corporation/Google Health

WASHINGTON — Search engine giant Google has joined software giant Microsoft in an attempt to revolutionize health care information technology, one patient at a time.

Google launched Google Health this spring with the aim of establishing itself as the leading repository of personal health records (PHR) and positioning itself as a primary clearinghouse for clinical information, self-care tools, and provider ratings to help patients make educated health care decisions.

Google Health emerged just as the smoke began to clear from Microsoft's launch of the HealthVault PHR platform last fall.

Both companies see individual patients, not health care systems, as the primary locus of change for health care information technology, and both provide secure user-friendly systems for individuals to aggregate all of their health care records, data, diagnostic images, laboratory results, and medical histories. The hope is to put an end to the fragmentation, duplication, and lack of portability that characterize paper-based health record-keeping.

Executives at both HealthVault and Google Health said they believe that digitally enabled patients will help push more doctors to implement electronic medical records systems in their offices.

Todd Wiseman, head of Google's Federal Enterprise Team, said the creation of Google Health was a natural move. “We now have more than 1 billion people worldwide using Google every day. [It] is the No. 1 search engine for health information, and health topics are a top search category for Google,” he said at the fifth annual World Health Care Congress.

Google Health will eventually enable people to store their PHRs and allow them to decide who can have access to those records. Users can also store medical contacts and other relevant information. “Users should have easy access to their medical records … [which] should follow the patient and exist in an environment of interoperability, portability, privacy, and security. We don't hold our users' data hostage.”

The system can automatically import physician reports, prescription history, and lab results. Eventually, it will enable people to schedule appointments, refill prescriptions, and employ personal health and wellness tools, Mr. Wiseman said. The PHR system also offers health-oriented search functions, clinical trial matching, and a host of other health management tools that can be integrated with a user's e-mail account.

There will be no charge to patients for storing PHRs, and doctors will be able to access patients' PHRs—with patient permission—at no cost.

“We don't have any plans for ads within the Google Health product,” Mr. Wiseman said, although the search returns will arrive with ads and sponsored placements, as is the case with every Google search.

Google is currently running a pilot field test of the Google Health system in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic.

Mr. Wiseman said Google is an independent company that is not tied to a health care plan or provider system, so a Google Health PHR is completely portable. And it has massive data storage capacity, which is important, given that it will need to store files containing x-rays and MRI, he added.

Microsoft has been involved in health care IT solutions for hospitals and health plans for more than a decade, but its PHR efforts, in the form of HealthVault, has been up and running since last fall. It is essentially a consumer-controlled hub for gathering and controlling information from various sectors of a person's “health care ecosystem,” such as data the employer, various doctors, hospitals, payers, and pharmacies, according to George Scriban, senior product manager for HealthVault.

HealthVault is also free to consumers. It tries to solve one of the most frustrating health issues for ordinary people: fragmentation. “Fragmentation of delivery of care has a lot to do with fragmentation of someone's health care identity … The ideal is to have all of one's information, presentable and portable and useful to any and all pro- viders,” Mr. Scriban said in an interview.

Although some physicians get nervous at the thought of patients in control of their own medical records, Mr. Scriban said systems such as HealthVault and Google Health are simply systematizing what already happens informally. “When a patient gets a referral from one doctor to another, it is really that patient who acts as an information transporter, telling the new doctor his or her medical history, medication use, and in some cases actually transferring paper records.”

HealthVault tries to facilitate that process, which Mr. Scriban contends will reduce errors, prevent loss of important information, eliminate redundancy, and give physicians a fuller picture of their patients' health. The system is being designed to interface with many different electronic medical records systems.

HealthVault and Google Health are similar in that they are both backed by large companies with a lot of resources and have both looked at the same problem and arrived at similar conclusions, he said. “One conclusion is that you cannot revolutionize health care in one big step. The other is that the consumer is really the agent of change in all of this.”

Still, there are some differences, he said. Microsoft is primarily focused on enabling people to manage their health information, and less engaged in providing self-care tools, something that Google is pursuing.

Both companies are trying to line up partners across the health care landscape, including insurers and managed care plans, information service providers, medical organizations, and patient advocacy groups.

Microsoft recently partnered with Kaiser Permanente, an integrated health plan with more than 8 million members, to test the transfer of data from Kaiser's personal health records into HealthVault.

The pilot project, launched last month, is open to Kaiser's 159,000 employees. The idea is to combine the clinical data entered by Kaiser physicians, which is available in the Kaiser personal health record, with patient-entered health information and clinical information from providers outside of the Kaiser system. Kaiser officials plan to reevaluate the pilot later in the year before expanding it to its members.

Google's Mr. Wiseman said it is important to create alliances with health plans because many people will not use it unless their health plans support it. Among Google Health's new partners is HealthGrades, a private company that is a leader in online physician and hospital ratings. Currently, Web users seeking HealthGrades ratings for a doctor or hospital must pay a fee. Under the partnership agreement, users would have free access to the ratings.

Google Health and Microsoft's HealthVault aim to make consumers agents of change. 2008 Microsoft Corporation/Google Health