Privacy Promises Are Central to Google Health

This will be great if Google can understand HIPAA

I personally think that this is a great thing. It is a real opportunity to do something positive to help reduce health care costs and improve a system that is totally dysfunctional. Now a patient has to ask one provider to send chart information to another provider. This frequently comes with a need for a paper release, and often some cost to the patient. In any case there is a lot of paperwork, time delays, and general aggravation.

I have worked for health care facilities that have electronic client record systems, and also ones that use the old fashion paper chart. Using the electronic system is so much better that I cannot begin to describe the differences. However once you use ECR you will never want to do a chart entry long hand.

Google needs to make sure it is HIPAA compliant, with multiple levels of security. They know how to do it, and I am confident that they will. Think about being able to have one doctor look at a new CT or MRI at the click of a button. Think about the clarity of perscriptions, where you can actually read the drug name and the amount. Sounds easy but I will tell you from first hand experience that there are more mistakes made that you ever want to know about in that one area alone.

I hope that Google developes this the way that they do everything else, with professionalism. Hopefully they will develop some standard forms etc. that can help small clinics and agencies without big budgets go electronic.

Dr. Allan I. Rubenstein, LADC of MN @ Feb 29, 2008 19:43:47 PM