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By Jessica Bair
Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault are among initiatives directed at making personal health records more accessible to individuals and their medical care providers.
But one of the biggest issues facing this technology is getting health care-related companies up to speed with electronic records, said Kelly Lewis, president of the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania.
"The big push we need to undertake for these efforts to bear fruit is to help physicians, hospitals and health care providers transform to electronic medical records, so more patient information is electronic and therefore able to get populated onto a personal health record," Lewis said. "If only 20 to 30 percent of physicians use electronic medical records, then there is not much robust medical information to electronically push onto a personal health record."
Google Health allows users to store and manage their health information in one location for free. The idea is to compile an individual's records in one place online -- including data on health conditions, medications, allergies and lab results -- so that going to a new doctor or switching to a new health insurance provider becomes easier and more fluid.
Google released the technology to the general public last year. The firm has been working to partner with hospitals, pharmacies, health insurance companies and related organizations to convince them to allow their customers to access their records through their Google Health profile.
Microsoft released a similar program, HealthVault, near the end of 2007 that allows users to keep track of health and fitness information.
Highmark, a health insurance provider with local offices in Cumberland County, provides health records on its Web site for its members, but at the moment does not partner with Google Health, said Leilyn Perri, spokesman for the company.
"Much of this work continues to evolve and change at a rapid pace," Perri said.
Google has forged partnerships with nearly 20 companies, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, CVS Pharmacy and Quest Diagnostics.
Dauphin County-based Capital BlueCross offers a basic personal health record online and is connected to Microsoft HealthVault, said Joseph Butera, a company spokesman. The firm is in the process of evaluating HealthVault, as well as Google Health, to determine if and how the company might further integrate with the programs, he said.
