Microsoft HealthVault vs. Google Health

icon1 Posted by Paul Griffiths in Google, health information, Health Vault, Microsoft on 03 7th, 2008 | 2 responses

Here is an excellent blog post about HealthVault vs. Google Health.

It’s worth a read-through, but the thing that’s clear to us is that neither Microsoft or Google is thinking too much yet about how the hospital institution will interact with the data they collect. Since they’re more in the PHR model — well, Google’s is squarely; HealthVault is just a storage space, but that’s surprisingly useful for reasons you’ll read about in coming weeks — you still have the problem of another stream of care-related data.

Most hospitals are still struggling to connect the dots and collect everything that happens inside their walls, never mind deal with information a patient may have. So while both of these applications might help the physician/patient face-to-face interaction become a more informed experience, they don’t do much to address the operational failure in healthcare of how data is distributed in a system.

In other words, nurses will still be answering phones from referring docs, scratching down notes, and flagging paper files with sticky notes for some time.

(And hey, that’s more an observation than a complaint.)

2 Responses to “Microsoft HealthVault vs. Google Health”

  1. Dr Julio Bonis says:
    March 8, 2008 at 12:46 am

    I am a medical doctor. I see patients every day. Including the Emergency Room where I work.

    During thousands years physician have follow this hippocrates oath sencente: What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.

    So at the moment I designed the keyose (www.keyose.com) service, I have a very clear idea: privacy must be the priority number one!

    Read more on:
    http://blog.keyose.com/2008/02/28/broken-privacy-is-a-real-threat-trust-me/

  2. Jason says:
    March 10, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    Interestingly, at the moment PHR are not covered by any HIPAA regulations and are subject the terms of service of the providers. It seems hospitals are going to have to think through the implications of integrating this data into their health records (if a patient would want this information).

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