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[byron mc]

Each health profile, including information about prescriptions, allergies and medical histories, will be protected by a password that's also required to use other Google services such as e-mail and personalized search tools.

Google personal health record — a series of secure Web pages.

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/22/0020211
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/google-health-begins-its-preseason-at-cleveland-clinic/?ref=technology

[byron mc]

Google Inc. won´t sell ads to support a new Internet service that stores personal medical information, CEO Eric Schmidt said Thursday in the search giant´s first detailed comments about a venture that has raised privacy concerns.

Schmidt described Google Health as a platform for users to manage their own records, such as medical test results and prescriptions. It would be accessed with a user name and password, just like a Google e-mail account, and could be called up on any computer with an Internet connection.

A primary benefit, Schmidt said, is the portability of records from one health care provider to the next. He repeatedly said no data would be shared without the consumer´s consent.
Google Health partners include retailers with pharmacies like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Walgreen Co. and Duane Reade Inc. and health care providers such as Aetna Inc. and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

The bigger problem with these online health systems, privacy advocates say, is that they aren´t covered by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, commonly called HIPAA. The 1996 privacy law requires patient notification when their records are being subpoenaed, among other things.
"Once you take sensitive health care information outside of the health care sector, it loses important protections that people have come to expect," said Pam Dixon, executive director of the nonprofit World Privacy Forum. "Your physician has taken a Hippocratic Oath, and they are bound to have your best interests in mind. A publicly traded company is supposed to have shareholders in mind first."
"I think we´ve all consented to things online we haven´t meant to simply by failing to check or uncheck a box," she said. "Something else very big in HIPAA is you can withdraw consent. Will there be a way for people to undo the consent afterward? If you have accidentally consented to release the results of an HIV test or a cancer test, you might need to take that back."

Microsoft´s service has ads, but they aren´t personalized based on health records or searches. Revolution Health´s ads are personalized based on age, gender and a user´s Web activity.

Google Health Won´t Have Ads
February 28, 2008
http://www.mymotherlode.com/News/article/id/D8V3H8SO0


the above is all important to us but what about the millions of people that will just say yes to use the service, just like installing a piece of software on your computer.

"Our model is that the owner of the data has control over who can see it," Schmidt said at the annual conference of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. "And trust, for Google, is the most important currency on the Internet."

Will the government have access to this data if they subpoena your email address for an investigation or a civil court trial? trust is limited by a court order or subpoena.

[byron mc]

Your DNA falls into the realm of "the world's information," and it seems that Google (GOOG), as part of its corporate mission, is making a play to organize that, too.
Google's interest in DNA doesn't end there. It is also putting money into a second Silicon Valley DNA-screening startup, Navigenics.

Google Wants to Index Your DNA, Too
The Web search giant's investment in Navigenics is further proof it wants an early stake in direct-to-consumer genetic screening
April 18, 2008

[byron mc]

Google, (GOOG) Microsoft, (MSFT) Aetna, (AET) Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and 27 other organizations on Wednesday endorsed a privacy guideline framework for protecting the data people keep in their online personal health records, or PHRs.

The AARP, the American Academy of Family Physicians and Consumers Union also endorsed the framework yesterday, along with companies such as Aetna, Cisco and Intuit. A complete list of endorsements is here.

http://www.connectingforhealth.org/news/pressrelease_062508.html

Both Google and Microsoft say they've already built their services — Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault — in line with the new privacy guidelines.

Tech, Medical Firms OK New Privacy Guidelines
6/25/2008
http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=17&artnum=1&issue=20080625
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/04/17/can-microsoft-and-google-protect-our-health-records/


i would suggest reading some of the comments here:
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/04/17/can-microsoft-and-google-protect-our-health-records/

[Klapton Isgod]

Google has already allowed DHS to monitor people's searches.  It's not much of a stretch that FedGov will come up with some asshat excuse why they need access to those medical records to fight terrorism too.  I mean, sheesh, they are using that excuse for trying to force NAIS on anyone who owns livestock.

I'll carry photocopies of whatever my doctor has on file, and bring them to my next doctor, tyvm.

[vonuvan]

If you need to carry photocopies of your medical history to a doctor, you should find a doctor that doctors based on his own observational skills rather than piggybacking on back mistakes of past practitioners.

[Klapton Isgod]

If you need to carry photocopies of your medical history to a doctor, you should find a doctor that doctors based on his own observational skills rather than piggybacking on back mistakes of past practitioners.

Thank you, Dr. Vonu!  lol  I'll trust me and my physician to make that decision.  Medical history is a useful tool, or doctors wouldn't ask for them.  You are also assuming that all of my past practitioners made mistakes.  I see no reason to make that assumption.  /shrug

[vonuvan]

I carry my medical history in my head, where it's difficult to steal.
The level of undocumented and unajudicated malpractice is more than enough to convince me that all doctors should be assumed to be incompetant until proven otherwise, just like all other "professionals" with letters after their names.
Medical histories are the tool they're taught to use, just like practice guidelines. The patient comes in with this problem, you give him/her a prescription for that pharmaceutical, especially if the patient comes in demanding that pharmaceutical because they saw the ad on television and self-diagnosed themselves.
Since almost all the medschools are regulated by the AMA, which is regulated by the pharmaceutical companies, doctors receive almost zero education in nutrition. There are some, however, that didn't stop at the "education" which was handed them, like Russell Blaylock.

[byron mc]

Officials from Aetna and Microsoft on Monday announced plans to partner to launch in November a new program that will allow about six million Aetna members access to their personal health records online

Health insurer Aetna Inc. is becoming the first health insurer to team with Microsoft Corp. to give its customers an Internet-based vault for storing medical records they can access even if they change jobs or leave their health plan.
Starting next month, Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna will allow some customers to transfer electronic personal health records to Microsoft's HealthVault, a platform that lets care providers look at the information, if they have patient permission.
The insurer sees several advantages in the move, including improved communication with providers.

Peter Neupert, vice president for Microsoft Health Solutions Group, said that Aetna members who participate in the program will have complete control over their PHRs and that physicians and Microsoft employees will not have the ability to access medical information without members' consent.

Insurer Aetna to allow customers access to Microsoft HealthVault for record storage
October 22, 2008, AP
http://www.startribune.com/business/32224694.html

The insurer sees several advantages in the move, including improved communication with providers.

This is speak for 'this saves money' and they will require it in the future of their customers...
and of course Microsoft starts charging a monthly fee. This will not be ad-supported forever.

and just wait until Microsoft Health Solutions Group receives a subpoena and they will surely just give it all up for any lawsuit criminal or civil....If the case goes to trial it becomes public documents.

[byron mc]

UnitedHealth Group is among other vendors not interested in letting those industry giants claim all the limelight.
The Minnesota-based managed health-care provider and insurance giant on Monday announced the beta version of its own PHR and portal, myOptumHealth, headquartered at www.myoptumhealth.com.

UnitedHealth's online PHR is open to anyone -- not just pre-established UnitedHealth clients -- and like some aspects of the Microsoft and Google offerings allows the user to access information on medical conditions, diseases and treatments. According to the Wall Street Journal, UnitedHealth will also use myOptumHealth to market its own products, including insurance.
UnitedHealth remains the country's largest health insurer by market value,

Business critics of PHR have wondered how free-access PHRs can make money for vendors -- a question asked of Microsoft and Google last month at Everything Channel's Healthcare IT Summit in San Diego.

Microsoft Senior Director of Global Consumer Health Strategy in the Health Solutions Group Grad Conn suggested Microsoft was positioning itself at the center of the health-care IT ecosystem and that "emerging business models come out of being at the center of ecosystems."

Dec. 01, 2008
http://www.crn.com/healthcare/212201250

Having a health insurance company as a vendor for a personal medical history is a fine line for privacy abuse.
UnitedHealth Group is offering a free, secure account for Personal Health Records.
Well it is not "free". It is a search-driven advertising-supported product.
They say right in their TOS:

You agree and recognize that myOptumHealth may agree to advertising on the Site, including but not limited to certain response to search terms.

and when it comes to a lawsuit or an insurance company investigation...

III.         Information We Disclose About You
We will disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law and or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or other legal process.

VI.         Our Online Communication Practices
A.           General Email Communications
 If you wish to keep your information completely private, you should not use email.

http://www.myoptumhealth.com/portal/Privacy

[byron mc]

Google Health opens pandora box of PHR sharing

Sharing is as simple as entering the service with your GMail password and typing the e-mail address of whoever you want to share with. The link expires in 30 days, it’s a read-only link, and you get a report on who looked at the report when.

The service has also added a print feature.

This makes patients, not doctors, the primary gatekeepers of their own health data, assuming your doctor lets you download your Electronic Health Record into the Google PHR.

Okay so the health care provider (hospital or doctor) looks at your PHR and then decides to add the data into your EHR Electronic Health Record (EHR) that you do not control.
The federal government is pushing for all Americans to have EHRs by 2012.
see:
Electronic Health Record (EHR)
http://thementalmilitia.com/forums/index.php?topic=17110.0

So either the doctors office or the hospital will make mistakes and/or share data they are not supposed to. Having a PHR and a EHR is confusing to consumers and will eventually just be one in 10 years and of course you cannot control it and of course health insurance companies will want to see it to deny you coverage as a new customer if you have a preexisting condition. This medical history report will be as important as a credit report in 2009.


http://healthcare.zdnet.com/?p=1941

[diabla]

I will never use google again www.ixquick.com is the best for having no stored data

[byron mc]

New York-Presbyterian Hospital said it will use the software maker's technology [using Microsoft's HealthVault and Amalga technologies] as part of a push to make digital health records available to its patients.

The hospital system will start making health records available online, initially to cardiac and cardiothoracic patients.
 Customers can view their records online, opt to copy them into a personal health record and then, if they wish, share that record with other health care providers.

"These really are the patients' records," said Aurelia Boyer, a former practicing nurse, who now serves as NY Presbyterian's CIO. "It is really their data. it is not the hospital's."
However, that's a big shift for the industry, Boyer acknowledges. "Doctors and hospitals have kept those records sort of under lock and key."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10211922-56.html

When authorized by the patient, Amalga UIS can push patient data generated at the hospital—including test results, medications and discharge summaries—to the patient's HealthVault record via the ASTM Continuity of Care Record (CCR) industry standard specification. The patient can then use and share this information, as desired, with other clinicians or caregivers.

Microsoft announced today at HIMSS 09, the Amalga Unified Intelligence System (UIS) 2009,
April 6, 2009
http://wistechnology.com/articles/5859/


This is the first decade of this electronic sharing where the patient can keep the data and share with other health care providers.
At what point will the patient not be able to make that decision to share their medical records?  Critical mass? 70% of all patients?

My guess is when 75% of all patients have a PHR perhaps the records will automatically be shared as required by Medicare and future 'USA Universal Healthcare'...
Medicare is already requiring doctors to use electronic prescriptions by 2012 or else face actual penalties by 2012 (basically a fine).


related:
e-prescriptions
http://thementalmilitia.com/forums/index.php?topic=18478.0

[byron mc]

CVS Caremark today announced the expansion of its partnership with Google Health by providing CVS/pharmacy customers the ability to securely download their prescription and medication histories to their Google Health Account.

In addition, patients who receive treatment at MinuteClinic, the retail-based health clinic subsidiary of CVS Caremark, can also securely import their visit summaries into their Google Health Accounts.

http://uk.sys-con.com/node/909038

the PHR sharing net widens.

[byron mc]

I am quite concerned about a letter from the consumer education and advocacy organization Consumer Watchdog.org and their allegations that Google has been lobbying Congress to be excluded from HIPAA provisions on privacy and forbidding sales of medical records. The letter, dated April 22, is here

( http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/LtrSchmidt042209.pdf ).

I hope the Consumer Watchdog allegations are not accurate, because if they are valid, the implications of national EHR grow increasingly unsettling.

Was Google lobbying Washington for HIPAA exclusion of their PHR effort?
May 01, 2009
http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/05/was-google-lobbying-washington-for.html


a "rumored lobbying effort" by Google "aimed at allowing the sale of electronic medical records." Press Release
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=prnw.20090127.DC63142&show_article=1

Google's response:
http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/01/consumer-watchdog-wrong-on-medical.html