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Thursday, March 5, 2009

Google Launches Do-It-Yourself Electronic Medical Records

Why wait for Uncle Sam to computerize medical health records when we can do it ourselves? Google is adding a new sharing feature to its Google Health service. Google launched Google Health last spring to help people keep track of their own prescriptions, allergies, test results, and other medical details. The new feature allows users to specify individuals with whom they want to share this information: family members, physicians, pharmacists, whoever you think might need to know this information.

Google's Sameer Samat gives a very simple example of how this service could help:

Just a few years ago, my father suffered a minor heart attack and was sent to the ER. I arrived on the scene in a panic, and was asked what medications he was taking. To my surprise, I had no clue. If my father had a Google Health account, and had shared his profile with me, I would have been up-to-date on his current medications [Sameer Samat, "Google Health: Helping You Better Coordinate Your Care," The Official Google Blog, 2009.03.04].

Those of you who believe in reforming health care through personal responsibility rather than government programs, well, here's your chance. Get your data on Google Health!
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3 comments:

  1. Yes, but is it hacker proof?

    ReplyDelete
  2. There is a question here in 'is it hacker proof', that digs deeper, should medical records be online?

    The question should be turned around: Why do we hid the information that could save our lives in an emergency?

    Do we really care about the snot nose hacker kid? What do they care about my heart condition? How does a hacker profit from that?

    It is not the hacker we should fear it is the insurance companies that would charge us more (or deny coverage) for insurance based on our medical history.

    There is something upside down about putting the profits of insurance companies ahead of the well being of people. How have we gotten to this point?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't and won't put any info on line that I don't want the world to see. Remember Sarah Palin's emails? There's no such thing as on-line absolute security.

    ReplyDelete

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