Should I keep my medical card online?

Google and Microsoft corporations strive to bring the same benefits to people's individual health as Quicken-type software has already brought to people's personal finances. Launched in May 2008 and October 2007, Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault services allow users to save and manage their personal medical data online. Users will be able to collect information from doctors, hospitals and laboratories and provide it to new medical service providers, thus facilitating the work on the treatment of complex diseases and identifying possible interactions between drugs or other problems. Both Google and Microsoft provide interaction with independent services, such as medication reminders and programs that monitor changes in blood pressure or glucose levels.

Patients already have official rights to possess copies of the results of medical examinations. However, in practice, these rights are often difficult to implement, because it is difficult to obtain paper copies of the results of examinations, appointments and epicrisis, and many doctors still do not use electronic forms to enter medical information, or do not want or are unable to provide patients with information in electronic form. According to the results of an interactive Wall Street Journal Online/Harris survey, only about a quarter of participants noted that they have electronic records of medical results, which are mostly in the doctor's office. Only 2% of participants have and update medical records on their personal computers and only about 1% use personal medical databases stored on the Internet. The launch of Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault may push private practitioners and hospitals to switch to using electronic medical records.

Patients currently using electronic databases use portals supported by doctors or healthcare institutions. Usually patients can view their appointments, laboratory results and diagnoses, in some cases they can send e-mails to doctors or make an appointment via the Internet. However, in most cases, patients do not have the opportunity to use their data and transfer it to other medical institutions or specialists.

HealthVault and Google Health, on the contrary, promise users the ability to fully dispose of medical information. The more health care providers will join these systems, the easier it will be for patients to provide the results of computed tomography, X-ray examinations and laboratory tests to other specialists. This opportunity is very important when a patient is admitted to the emergency department, where it is very important for doctors to get reliable information about the general state of a person's health and the medications they take. Currently, the systems are at various stages of development and provide information exchange only with individual clinics, however, both the expansion of the capabilities of such systems and the growth in the number of their users is a matter of time.

Due to the confidentiality of the information that HealthVault and Google Health are intended to store and use, a number of serious ethical issues arise. The new systems are not covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which prohibits hospitals, doctors and insurance companies from disclosing information without the patient's consent. Google and Microsoft strongly assure users that they will not disclose data without their knowledge, but their promises are not backed up by law.

Information security specialists are particularly concerned about the possibility of information leakage that companies can use to market their products. To solve this and similar issues, Google and Microsoft must join HIPAA, or legislation must be developed to ensure that users reliably protect their medical information from leakage and sale to interested parties. Until then, joining the ranks of HealthVault and Google Health users, despite all their attractiveness, looks very doubtful from the point of view of information security.

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of TechnologyReview

25.06.2008