Google Tests Web Med Records

The company will post health info for up to 10,000 Cleveland volunteers
By Jim O'Neill,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 21, 2008 12:24 PM CST
Google Tests Web Med Records
Google employees wait for the visit of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the company's New York offices on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008. Google is expected to release quarterly earnings after the market closes. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)   (Associated Press)

In a test of a long-anticipated medical-records program, Google will offer up to 10,000 patients at the Cleveland Clinic the chance to create an online medical profile, making it easier for them to share information with doctors or pharmacies, the Wall Street Journal reports today. In the pilot program, patients will be able to access data in the clinic's records system, such as prescriptions, conditions, and allergies, and control what goes into the profile.

"From a patient perspective, they no longer have to remember all that information, write it down on a piece of paper and keep it with them," says a Cleveland spokesman. Similar efforts are under way; Microsoft’s venture, HealthVault, has been online 5 months. Critics worry posting the records online will raise privacy and security concerns, even though the information will be password protected. (More Google stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X