John Moore, Chilmark Research
John Moore is the Founder and Managing Partner of Chilmark Research. Learn more at chilmarkresearch.com
Google Hits Reset Button on Google Health
September 16, 2010
Google Health has seemingly been stuck in neutral almost from the start. Despite the fanfare of Google’s Eric Schmidt speaking at the big industry confab, HIMSS a couple of years back, an initial beta release with healthcare partner Cleveland Clinic and a host of partners announced once the service was opened to the public in May 2008, Google Health just has not seemed to live up to its promise. Chilmark has looked on with dismay as follow-on announcements and updates from Google Health were modest at best and not nearly as compelling as Google’s chief competitor in this market, Microsoft and its corresponding HealthVault. Most recently we began to hear rumors that Google had all but given up on Google Health, something that did not come as a surprise, but was not a welcomed rumor here at Chilmark for markets need competitors to drive innovation. If Google pulled out, what was to become of HealthVault or any other such service?
Thus, when Google contacted Chilmark last week to schedule a briefing in advance of a major announcement, we were somewhat surprised and welcomed the opportunity. Tuesday, we had that thorough briefing and Chilmark is delighted to report that Google Health is still in the game having made a number of significant changes to its platform.
Moving to Health & Wellness
Wednesday, Google announced a complete rebuild of Google Health with a new user interface (UI) a refocusing on health & wellness and signing on additional partners and data providers. Google told Chilmark that the new UI is based upon significant user feedback and a number of usability studies that they have performed over the last several months. Rather than a fairly static UI (the previous version), the new UI takes advantage of common portal technologies that allow the consumer to create a personalized dashboard presenting information that is most pertinent to a consumer’s specific health and wellness interests and needs. So rather then focusing on common, basic PHR-type functions, e.g., view immunization records, med lists, procedures and the like, the new UI focuses on the tracking of health and wellness metrics. This is not unlike what Microsoft is attempting to do with MSN Health and their health widgets that subsequently link into a consumer’s HealthVault account, though first impressions lead us to give a slight edge to Google Health’s new UI for tracking health metrics.
A particularly nice feature in the new Google Health is the consumer’s ability to choose from a number of pre-configured wellness tracking metrics such as blood pressure, caloric intake, exercise, weight, etc. Once a given metric is chosen, the user can set personal goals and track and trend results over time. There is also the ability to add notes to particular readings, thereby keeping a personal journal of what may have led to specific results. And if one cannot find a specific health metric they would like to track, the new platform provides one the ability to create their own, for example the one in the figure below to measure coffee consumption. Nice touch Google.
BrentH say: Privacy protection and HIPAA compliance still need work
Google Health still suffers one major flaw that many of their partners should be wary of - they continue to claim that HIPAA does not apply to them. This is taken directly from the Google Health privacy page: "Unlike a doctor or health plan, Google Health is not regulated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)...". A quick search of the forums indicate that Google will not sign a HIPAA Business Associate agreement with partners. Any PHI stored within Google's cloud is essentially not protected by data at rest, and would be out of compliance with the law.
As a liability issue, this coverage argument makes perfect sense for a company offering a free product, and moreso when the risk potential for data loss is great among the user base. Unfortunately, HIPAA law does not change because a vendor claims they are not a business associate when they are clearly creating associations with health providers and care-related systems.
The ARRA and associated HITECH Act sought to close this claimed loophole. Whether or not Google chooses to extend this protection to end users is ultimately up to them (until lawsuits force the issue), but their partners risk far more in dealing with an organization that does not see itself bound to federal law for protected health information. Because of this, no PHI should ever traverse the Google Health system, Google Apps, or be sent via Google's email system to other providers, business asociates or patients. In the event user records or messages containing PHI are ever be breached, businesses and parners tied to them may find their organizations held liable for members whose data has been shared via Google Health.