Google Health Brings First Insurer Aboard

By Alexander Toldt
19:02, June 15th 2008
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On Thursday, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts said it would become the first health insurer ever to participate in Google Health. The company is planning to make the free electronic service available to its three million member base sometime this fall.

Google’s project was launched in the second half of May. According to Marissa Mayer, a Google vice president, patients can upload medical records from organizations, enter their own data and create their own profile, search for viable information on health conditions or ask for a second opinion on their diagnosis.

Google has also disclosed its partners in the electronic medical record service, which include Walgreens Pharmacy, CVS Caremark, the American Heart Association, Quest Diagnostics, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Medco, Longs Drug Stores and the Cleveland Clinic.

Google Health comes with a number of features designed to help its users. For instance, a link can be used in order to find doctors by location or specialization. Moreover, users can be notified when they need to take their medications or about possible drug interaction through another feature, called “virtual pillbox.”

From the very moment when the project started, one of its main concerns involved privacy issues regarding sensitive user information. A series of privacy watchdog groups believe that Google already knows too much about the interests and habits of its users as its computers log their request and store their e-mail discussions.



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