Google a Day, Keeps the Doctor Away

In its mission to organize the the world’s information and make it universally accessible / useful, Google has certainly pushed the envelope further than anyone else. In its overall strategy the Health sector has clearly remained at the forefront. Late last year Google (on their blog) clearly announced its focus in this area. Speaking from personal experiences Adam Bosworth (VP Product Management, Google) said:

People need the medical information that is out there and available to be organized and made accessible to all. Which happens to be our mission. Health information should be easier to access and organize, especially in ways that make it as simple as possible to find the information that is most relevant to a specific patient’s needs.

Google initiated an internal project codenamed “Weaver” as a planned health information storage and management program. Currently in prototype stage, its being shown to health professionals and advisers to gather their opinion and feedback.

Google’s intent is to aggregate patient information from various sources and allow them to manage it effectively. Moreover if the patient’s medical provider offers secure web access of medical records, it will offer users to download this information and manage it within their profiles. Google will also periodically check and update this information to ensure availability of current information.

Once all the information is collected, Google Weaver will offer custom “Health Guides” to its users. Blogoscoped quotes:

“When you add some information to your profile, Google Health will search trusted medical sources and create a health guide targeted for you. … Google Health will check for relevant updates to your guide whenever you add new information to the profile.” You can use the health guide, Google writes, to learn about drug interactions, treatments, tests and preventive measures.”

Note: Apparently this service is built in collaboration with Safe Med.

Health is a very hot market. Only 20% of patients in America have their records organized digitally. Most of patient data is still controlled by doctors, hospitals or insurers. Such an endeavor to organize this data organize and make it accessible would be a great opportunity for big boys like Microsoft and Google. These efforts will ultimately place the control of this information in hands of the patient.

However the question around privacy and monetization still remains. Would Google provide ads to insurers and medical institutions to monetize from this service? If not then how would they benefit from this and if yes, how can they keep the information safe?

The success of this service remains to be seen. However this is defintey a beginning of a big shift in the health sector. This will certainly trigger new category of web services who can provide value add to the user’s by utilizing such data.