users medical records "are generally speaking as safe with Google as they would be with a HIPAA-regulated entity."

Eeeg. I don't know if this is a good thing...

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"It's gettin' so a businessman can't expect no return from a fixed fight. Now, if you can't trust a fix, what can you trust?"

I linked my pharmacy records from Walgreens to my Google health profile last night just for the hell of it. It is probably more secure than filling out all the paperwork that is stored at your doctors office. God knows when/where that can get misplaced/thrown away. Unless your doctors have access to your records via google its kind of pointless (more of a novelty/online health "diary"). On the other hand I wouldnt mind being "chipped"/rfid with all of my personal info embedded in it. Instead of filling out mountains of paperwork at the hospital or dr office they can just scan me.

I can certainly see the attractiveness of this initiative for people with chronic, complicated diseases; many of the chronically ill must rely upon multiple doctors for comprehensive treatment. Diseases like HIV, Type I diabetes, and lupus could easily require the patient to see three or four specialists in any given year, so an online consolidation of that patient's records would be a boon to both the patient and the doctors. Done right, it could significantly improve the quality of care and the likelihood of successful outcomes.

However, a couple of things bother me about this initiative.

First, the fact that Google Health isn't covered by HIPAA means that any data theft or leakage from Google (whether by accident, through malice, or through Google changing the terms of use) will leave the user with little or no legal recourse.

Second, the user has the option to allow third parties to access their data on a case-by-case, opt-in basis. Google's terms of use for those third-party entities amount to nothing more than strongly worded suggestions. Data leakage or theft from those third parties would be almost impossible to police.

Since all three presidential candidates have talked about centralized digital medical records as one option for reducing health care costs and improving outcomes, Google is probably recognizing an opportunity to be the first in the game. Regardless of who gets elected, they'll already have the IT infrastructure in place.

I wouldn't want to be one of their beta testers, though.

~Russ