Healthcare 2.0 is finally arriving
Eric Schmidt was recently at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Annual Conference in Orlando, on February 28th, 2008. Eric Schmidt presented the keynote and presented the case for why Google is entering the personal health record (PHR) space. Having personally experienced being misdiagnosed, and being lucky enough to have a pharmacist that asked “What is this for? Who did you see? Why couldn’t you see your doctor? Does the walk-in clinic doctor realize how many drugs you’ve been given”, I am really interested in the PHR space, and thrilled with Google’s new offering.
Since just having a beautiful baby boy join our family, I’ve been more and more interested in how our medical records are stored. Why do I have to keep a little card of my baby’s immunization record? What happens if I lose this card? Why when I visit my family doctor, and then have to go to the hospital for an emergency, do they not have a clue what has been going on with me at my doctor’s office? Why when my wife’s water broke 3 months ago, did the hospital have to give her drugs she didn’t even need, because they didn’t know her test results because the doctor’s office didn’t open till 8am? Why do I have to fill out the same form, over and over again?
Is this disturbing anyone else?
Once Central Place for your families Medical Records
Although it currently links into only American locations and Pharmacies, I’m hoping to see their efforts expand to Canada soon. Over the last week I started entering information into their system, and it was really easy to use, so I decided “I should blog about this! People should know about this great service, it could save some lives!” So I am.
Below you can see a simple screenshot of Google Health. Google Health allows you to store and manage all of your health information in one central place. And it’s completely free. The best part is its not stored in a file folder somewhere in your doctor’s office, it’s not in your house, and it’s not on your home computer in a folder that you won’t have access to when you are in Florida. It’s “In the Cloud” and you can access it from anywhere within seconds, including your BlackBerry device.
Using the easy to use system, you can build your online health profile, import medical records from various partners including hospitals and pharmacies, learn about healthcare issues, find doctors and hospitals nearby that specialize in what you are looking for, and connect with other online health services. It’s a mouthful, but it’s needed so badly, and it’s amazing because it’s so simple to use. The best part about this system is that it will learn and warn you of interactions between drugs. In my case, had I had all the drugs I was being prescribed about a year ago on file, the system would have warned me not to take them, and list the reasons for me. As I get older and forget things, like being allergic to Penicillin, Google Health will now remind me, and offices linked into Google Health, of my allergies.
Taking it even further, check out the screenshot above. Using Google Health’s built in conditions reference system, Google will give me complete detail on any conditions I might have, including illustrations, videos, symptoms, treatments, and even up to date Medical News that is up to date TO THE DAY in some cases from medical journals and associations. Unbelievably powerful information here.
Software Developers will take this even further
From a developer’s perspective, Google has opened up their Google Health API’s to the world. If you are an IT professional working in the healthcare space, and want to ensure your data is compliant with Google Health, it’s very easy to offer Google Health compatibility, and in turn, link in with other organizations that are compliant. Already there are third party tools out there that you can use. For example, you can add a gadget that runs on your desktop that will alert you of when to take your medication, and allow you to print out a weekly list of the prescriptions you should be taking.
In the United States, the healthcare landscape is much more segmented into silos than that Canadian system due to privatized healthcare. Why then can’t we in Canada, create a system that links all of our medical records, test results, and other information that is critical to our lives. Of course it is easier said than done, but at least Google has gotten North America started.
This is only the Beginning
To be clear, your Public Health Record is only the beginning. The PHR is a natural fit for Google, but there are hundreds of other areas that need to be explored and developed by the hospitals, pharmacies, and governments themselves. Imagine having your X-Rays online, your actual test result documentation scanned in. By building this massive database, people could have the option to share their profiles, and allow the systems to learn to find patterns, and diagnose people more accurately and quickly. Imagine tying in DNA profiling to a system such as this! I am personally getting my son’s DNA analyzed by 23andme.com, which will give me a huge advantage into knowing exactly what things I should avoid and be careful with around the love of my life. Healthcare 2.0 isn’t coming, it has arrived. It’s just a matter of people paying attention, and putting the effort into making it available to the world.
The possibilities are endless.