Telehealth Monitor

When Dave deBronkart, a tech-savvy kidney cancer survivor, tried to transfer his medical records from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to Google Health, a new free service that lets patients keep all their health records in one place and easily share them with new doctors, he was stunned at what he found.

Google said his cancer had spread to either his brain or spine – a frightening diagnosis deBronkart had never gotten from his doctors – and listed an array of other conditions that he never had, as far as he knew, like chronic lung disease and aortic aneurysm. A warning announced his blood pressure medication required “immediate attention.”

“I wondered, What are they talking about? ” said deBronkart, who is 59 and lives in Nashua.

DeBronkart eventually discovered the problem: Some of the information in his Google Health record was drawn from billing records, which sometimes reflect imprecise information plugged into codes required by insurers. Google Health and others in the fast-growing personal health record business say they are offering a revolutionary tool to help patients navigate a fragmented healthcare system, but some doctors fear that inaccurate information from billing data could lead to improper treatment.

via Electronic health records raise doubt – The Boston Globe.

Google Health has introduced a new feature that lets people share their online health records with designated doctors, friends, and family members.

Google said the move is in response to people’s concerns that caregivers and loved ones might not be up-to-date on all the details of a patient’s health situation, especially in the event of an emergency.

Sameer Samat, director of product management at Google, explained his personal impetus behind the new feature in a company blog post on Wednesday:

Just a few years ago, my father suffered a minor heart attack and was sent to the ER. I arrived on the scene in a panic, and was asked what medications he was taking. To my surprise, I had no clue. If my father had a Google Health account, and had shared his profile with me, I would have been up-to-date on his current medications.

Along with the sharing feature, Google added a graphing feature that lets people enter lab results and visually track trends in their medical test results, such as their cholesterol levels.

Recognizing the sensitive nature of sharing health records, Google said it has built in several security measures to preserve privacy. Users choose who can view their histories, and the link to the patient’s profile will work only in connection with those people’s e-mail addresses–meaning the link won’t work if it is forwarded to a third party. Users can also decide what information they want to share, and those allowed to view the profile will not have the ability to edit the data. Users will also be able to see exactly who has reviewed the profile.

However, one security measure that is a bit baffling is a feature that restricts the usability lifespan of the e-mailed link to only 30 days. Unless the user is diligent about regularly sending links to loved ones, this protection could negate the feature’s value in the event of an emergency.

Google also announced a feature that lets users print wallet- and letter-size hard copies of their profile, including medications, allergies, conditions, and treatments. But again, the value of these printouts may be questionable if they are not updated regularly.

via Google Health lets users share their online records | Digital Media – CNET News.

Personal health records, or PHRs, were all the buzz at last week’s health-tech conference in San Diego — especially recent entries by Google and Microsoft that have the rest of the industry energized, focused and at least a little bit frightened.

Bill Reid, director of Microsoft’s HealthVault program, described the effort to integrate information technology into personal health care as a “long journey. We’re just at the front end of the process.” Was this an acknowledgment of the complexity of the task ahead? Or a way to reduce expectations about the software giant’s big investment?

Based on the conference, a high-energy gathering of great minds and entrepreneurial hustlers, it may be both. In addition to Google and Microsoft, dozens of companies presented online products designed to make U.S. health care smarter, stronger and better looking. There was a plan to offer online doctor consults at $1.99 per minute, a provider search tool pitched as “the match.com of health care,” and an electronic medical record that made you want to bask in the sheer beauty of ear infection data.

via Microsoft Health vs.Google Health – washingtonpost.com.