On Monday Google announced the public release of Google Health.  Patients with a google account can sign up and then add conditions, import medical records, note allergies and search for physicians and medical services.  The delivery of health portals by internet giants like Microsoft and Google has been anticipated for some time.  Concerns over the privacy of patient data have been at the forefront of the wait for these new services.  Google acknowledged these concerns by posting a chart comparing HIPAA standards with its standards and unveiling a "strong" privacy policy.

Marissa Mayer, Google's VP Search Products & User Experience described the offering.

Back in February, I wrote about how Google Health will harness the power of the Internet to put users in control of their own medical records. Data will stay with you -- if you change doctors, want a second opinion, if you're traveling -- and not stay siloed or stuck in files or databases that you can't get to. To break down these information silos, we launched Google Health today with several partners and third party services already integrated. These partners are as committed as we are to solving this urgent need. Our flagship partners include everyday brand names such as Walgreens, Quest Diagnostics and Longs Drugs, to name just a few.

In addition to helping you get better control of your medical information, we've also put strong privacy policies in place to keep your information safe and private. (Read more about this on our public policy blog.) There's a lot left to do in health -- literally thousands of partnerships to forge and petabytes of data to move around -- but we're looking forward to hearing feedback from early Google Health adopters about our first step.

Google also announce another health related initiative, Go for Good, with a companion video.  Go for Good is a walking program Google partnered with the Cleveland Clinic to create.


Source: Google.