Mesothelioma Blog

Quietly launched in February of 2008, Google Health is an online tool that strives to improve the way in which we store, share and manage our personal medical records. Google continues to add new features to this powerful tool. The most recent one, added just last week, takes a cue from social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

According to the official Google blog , the new feature was added as a direct response to user feedback about how to improve the dissemination of private medical information to doctors, friends and other need-to-know individuals.

Much like “friending” real-world friends and family on Facebook, the new Google feature allows Google Health users to share their medical records with anyone they choose, while blocking such sensitive information from everyone else.

To take advantage of the new feature, users need only to click the “Share this Profile” link on their Google Health profile. Then, the user can invite as many or few people to view his or her medical records by sending a request via email.

For your protection, medical records are all stored on secure HTTPS pages. Furthermore, all views of your medical records are painstakingly audited, allowing you to monitor which pages were viewed by your friends and at what time. Your invited viewers gain access on a read-only basis, meaning that no changes can be made to the medical information you provide. Access for an individual may be removed or instated at anytime.

The new Google Health feature attempts to tackle the tricky issue of balancing confidentiality and proper dissemination of medical records. Preliminary investigations insinuate that this attempt is largely a success. As usual, Google will continually work to update and modify the system as new problems or suggestions arise.

If you’re new to this whole idea of Google Health, check out how it works and learn how to import and track your medical history.

Resources:
 http://geekdoctor.blogspot.com/2009/03/c…
 http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/g…