Google Health Scrapbook?
Josh Jaffe writes about a developing Google product, Google Health Scrapbook, a service that will allow users to manage their entire medical lives, from adding medical providers, checking medical records, and paying bills. Google met with WebMD in New York last week to partner with them on this project, which would also provide information on hospitals to help patients choose.
Aside from WebMD, Google is hoping to partner with Intuit on the product. Intuit currently offers consumers a software program that helps them keep track of their medical expenses. The company has already met with the CEO of AllScripts LLC, Glen Tullman, and representatives of Epic Systems Corp., which has signed a non-disclosure agreement.
Involved in the project is Missy Krasner, a project manager who joined Google earlier this year. She was previously a top official in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Adam Bosworth is rumored to be the one directing the company’s overall health initiatives.
If this is true (and I am making a total of zero claims as to that effect), it would make a lot of sense. We know Bosworth was heading Google Health, yet the health product announced with Google Co-Op was too small scale to be the real thing. I, for one, hope this to be true, as it is a service that is very much needed, what with medical information being so hard to sift through.
As for Google, this would almost be a shocker. To be totally honest, the product sounds too full-featured for them. I know many Googlers won’t like to hear this, but Google isn’t exactly known for having products that do everything you want or need them to do. If Health is half as good as this rumor says it is, it is a testament to the well-known talents of Bosworth.
Trusting Google With Medical Secrets
Privacy advocates often are weary of Google’s services and the notion of trusting your life to Google.� They’ll go nuts about a rumored new “Google Health Scrapbbook“, an online service for keeping track of one’s medical …
Trackback by Another Blogger | July 7, 2006
Why on earth would anyone trust their private health information to a company whose goal is to index the world?
Comment by jbs | July 7, 2006
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Well, you never know how Google will innovate this to suit what it wants. I think having a health related section like that would be pretty nice.
Comment by mark | July 8, 2006
Any additional word on this bit of news? I’m curious to know when they’ll release and who will follow suit.
Comment by Scott | July 10, 2006
I think this product is definitely coming, and I think that Schmidt’s recent “Take Your Data and Run” pledge/challenge to the rest of the online industry was made with this particular product in mind.
Personally, Google’s indestructable cookie has always creeped me out; but if they put their money where their mouth is with end-user opt-out, I may consider using their services for more than I do at the moment (mostly to host my professional blog and handle its email).
Comment by Jeff O'Connor | December 26, 2006
[…] Link Redirects - May 5, 2006 Google Press Day 2006 (Google Co-Op unveiled instead) - May 10, 2006 Google Health Scrapbook? - July 7, 2006 First Google Health Screenshots Released - August 15, […]
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