Would You Use Google Health [Beta] ?

I find it fascinating that they would even try this. I work at a hospital, and am somewhat familiar with HIPAA, patient confidentiality, etc. even though I’m an IT guy. (They pound it into you several times a year).

We have such strict guidelines regarding information security/confidentiality, that I can’t imagine the institution ever signing up for a process where we would export patient data to a web site on the public internet.

I only envision possibly giving it to the patient directly, after they sign a release of liability form. And we store a copy of it. Ten copies in fact, in ten different locations. With backup at all ten sites…(they’ll probably try to sue us if Google Health gets hacked and we sent the data there).

They’ll have a big hurdle getting everyone to standardize on their electronic XML patient record, and a bigger one getting facilities to adopt the practice of USING and APPENDING TO the GH patient record.

I wonder where malpractice insurance fits into the overall scheme? Who is at fault if a misdiagnosis can be partially linked to an online error from a previous physician (or a work-at-home medical coder, who does the data entry for his office). There are MASSIVE liability issues that have to be contemplated.

One thing is for sure, if Google actually pulls this off, and someday becomes the central repository for American health information, they will truly own the world. After that, they would certainly also want to be the central repository for ALL of your information. All of it, everything you own and everything you know. And you would give it to them…after all, you’re already trusting them with your LIFE at that point.

By then we would probably be saying a pledge of allegiance to Google each day in our schools.

Health care and health insurance issues form a ka-zillion dollar tangled web, fraught with danger. A very ambitious undertaking for Google. But hey, they’ve got bucks, and command of the web. Who knows. They may pull it off.

Hello mhz,
Thanks for sharing your experience and expertise with us. I never gave a thought about the liability part of this scheme. This may turn out to be a haven for lawyers to hang out at!

“By then we would probably be saying a pledge of allegiance to Google each day in our schools.”

Thanks for the chuckle as well.

Have a good one and once again thanks for the comments.

absolutely NO way would i be interested in my personal health info on GoogleHealth!

Quest Diagnostics (largest in the industry) has partnered with Google Health to enable health care providers to send a patient’s lab test results directly into Google Health.
While its true that Google’s privacy policy states that it won’t share the information without your permission - the EULA Agreement seems to provide the permission. There’s a lot of the usual convoluted language in there, but the way I read the EULA, Google Health promises never to make any of your personal health info available to third parties unless you explicitly grant them permission; interestingly, that permission appears to me to be contained in the EULA and granted by signing up for a Google Health profile in your Google account.
Since HIPPA doesn’t apply to Google, or any such third party; I wonder whether the defense lawyers for the mal-practice insurance carriers are aware that there is no provision for any signed release from the patient in the “Google Health/Quest Diagnostic arrangement”. According to Quest, the Health Care provider is responsible for getting the patient’s permission and providing the patient with a printed form including a PIN (generated by Quest and associated with a patient). If there’s a problem down the road with private health care info getting out - the patient can sue denying any such permission was given and the healthcare provider is on the hook.
It may be far-fetched, but a vindictive spouse or tenacious investigator could potentially do some damage easier using Google Health. Just think if someone could Google a political candidate’s lithium level.

Hi lisa,
I believe there will be quite a few people who will feel the same way.

Hello Fernando,
Thanks for sharing this information with us. I believe you are correct about someone damaging your health info, and causing harm. Let’s face it. Using a password only for protection is easy to hack.

Thanks for the comments. They are appreciated.