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Google Health

You may have heard that earlier this year Google launched a website called Google Health. If you are wondering what exactly Google Health is and if it will have any effect on your practice, the following may shed some light on it for you.
First, you may also be wondering if it rivals an electronic health record.

No, it does not, mainly because Google Health is a form of personal health record.

The major difference being that an electronic health record is maintained by the medical staff, while the patient is responsible for opening the Google Health account and is also responsible for importing all the data to the Google Health account.

Even though a personal health record requires the full burden of data entry and maintenance to be the patient's responsibility, it has been very successful in its early trials. 

The pilot project was conducted with 1,600 patient volunteers from the Cleveland Clinic over a two-month period. What made the pilot project so successful was the Cleveland Clinic linked their existing electronic records system with Google Health, in effect becoming integrated with Google Health. This integration allowed the patients of the clinic to easily import information from their existing Cleveland Clinic record into their Google Health record.

As it is still early in the release, Google currently has only a few companies on board as partners including Walgreen's, CVS the American Heart Association, Quest Diagnostics, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic.

These partnerships are non-exclusive arrangements that allow the patient to easily upload information from the partner into the Google Health record. Naturally, Google is still working to add more partners.

An important thing to remember is that the partner sites do not automatically update the patients record, they just make it possible for the patient to upload the information, and the patient must still go into their Google Health record and update it.

At this point the Google Health record is simply a storage facility for the information as the site grows Google is hoping to add interactive features such as requesting appointments and prescription refills.

Google is touting it as a way for people to have control over their data. Citing examples of people who spend six months in the Cleveland area and six months in the Florida area, Google claims it will make it so much easier for people to transport their health information, no more paper files.

Although, I really cannot say how people would bring the Google Health information to a doctor's office. Is it expected that the doctor's office will have a terminal with Internet access in each exam/consultation room so people can pull up the records, or will people still have to print out pertinent information and bring it with them?

A site like Google Health can be helpful for the patient to maintain a better record of their various doctors and specialist, and it can be helpful in tracking prescriptions.

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