Google launched it's web 2.0 healthcare platform
Google Health allows you to store and manage all of your health information in one central place for free. Note that the service is currently English and US only (and for users age 18+), though you can access the interface from other countries too, so I took a quick peek at it.
Google Health is seems to focus more initially on the consumer side and offers an online PHR that allows people to manually input their medical data such as age, weight, medical conditions, medications, allergies, and other data which is simelar to that what eHealth guidelines define as the basic emergency minimal data set. In order to be succesfull Google Health will have to tackle the existing health data silos as it proceeds to increase interoperability and work closely with solution providers offering EMR solutions. Today Google Health lists only eight partners so far from which it can import medical records, and half of them only cover drugs (Medco, Walgreens, RXAmerica, and Longs Drug Stores). The others are Quest Diagnostics (for lab tests), MinuteClinic from CVS Caremark.
So what's in it for Google?
First questions that readers will ask, is what is in it for google and what happens with my data? Google states that the user controls the information and won’t share information unless the patient agrees. (patient consent functionality). The Google Health terms of service, which you need to agree to when you sign up, disclaim that the content should not be used during a medical emergency, for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition, but is meant for informational purposes only. The privacy terms state that only those entities and individuals the user designates, can share the health information for the purpose of providing medical care and for the purpose of sharing my information with others that the user chooses. As with their other services, Google links in the general privacy policy which says they may share your data to “satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request.”
Does this exclude that google can share aggregate, anonymous information from their Google Health records?
Another opportunity for google is turning the Google Health application into an open platform to drive growth through the use of the Health data API, that allows partners to upload medical records and get patient medical data and supports a subset of the Continuity of Care Record.
So what's in it for SAP and SAP's eco-System?
SAP has a large footprint within the european healthcare market and together with partners SAP offers solutions and technology that could link the enterprise world with the web. According to Google's website, Google is looking for "strategic partners who can help our users get access to their medical records and prescription history.
The general question to be asked: will consumer driven ehealth overtake enterprise or government driven eHealth initiatives? And is there an opportunity to link web-based initiatives such as Microsoft's Healthvault, Google Health or ICW's Lifesensor and SAP Customers?
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