Google Partners With Cleveland Clinic To Allow Storage Of Patient Health Records Online

Google and the Cleveland Clinic have partnered to launch a pilot program that will begin to store online the personal health records of patients, a "long-awaited health service that's likely to raise more concerns about the volume of sensitive information entrusted" to Google, the AP/Austin American-Statesman reports. The program will involve between 1,500 to 10,000 patients at the Cleveland Clinic who have agreed to submit their PHRs to the program (Liedtke, AP/Austin American-Statesman, 2/21).

Under the program, patients will have the ability to transfer their PHRs -- which include information such as prescriptions, allergies and medical histories -- between the Cleveland Clinic and an online Google health profile (Lawton, Wall Street Journal, 2/21). Patients will have the ability to access their Google health profiles, which will have password protection, through any computer connected to the Internet (AP/Austin American-Statesman, 2/21). In addition, patients also will have the ability to manage any information entered into their PHRs and share the data with physicians and pharmacists.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the partnership is "part of a larger push by technology companies, hospitals, insurers and the government to use technology to give patients more control and access to their medical information," a move that "could help lower health care costs if access to more data helps consumers make better choices" (Wall Street Journal, 2/21). C. Martin Harris, chief information officer for the Cleveland Clinic, said that the partnership seeks to "create a more efficient and effective national health care system" (AP/Austin American-Statesman, 2/21). Harris added, "From a patient perspective, they no longer have to remember all the information, write it down on a piece of paper and keep it with them" (Wall Street Journal, 2/21).