Seems like everybody on the web (or at least in our little Healthcare corner of it) has an opinion on the news that Google Health is shutting down. Just in case you’re thinking about sending me the link — yes, I’ve heard. 🙂
First off — sincere thanks to Aaron, Adam, Missy, Paul, Marc, Crutcher, Alan, Eric, Alfred, and all the others over at Google who built a great service and fought hard for the idea that the only way to really fix healthcare is to consumerize it. There will continue to be plenty of short-term debates about privacy, data ownership, standards, etc., but ultimately it’s inevitable — we’ll get there, and Google Health moved the ball forward.
Second — what does this mean for HealthVault? The “buzz” online ranges wildly, but the real and simple answer is: nothing. As I said a few months ago, HealthVault is a key piece of our overall approach:
HealthVault is a critical component in our broader project strategy — which is to (1) connect care across the ecosystem, from the home to the clinic to the hospital to the research lab, and (2) do so in a way that includes and encourages innovation from as many different organizations as possible.
Solving only the consumer side isn’t enough — that’s why we have Microsoft Amalga on the enterprise side. Our two platforms combine to enable the transformative all-up story: enabling clinical integrations like mynyp.org and MedPlus, home monitoring programs with Kaiser, CCF and UMass, and so on.Continue reading…