Thu 21 Feb 2008
Your Next Doctor Visit: “I’m Feeling Lucky”
Posted by Jason T. under Advertising, Content, Google, Microsoft
Your doctor visit may one day be powered by Google, much like your internet searching. As reported at eFluxMedia, Google is going to expand it’s IT business into the medical arena, starting with 1,500-10,000 patients at a clinic in Cleveland.Patients who opt-in will have their medical records transferred to Google. The idea would be to allow patients better access to their medical information, something patients are increasingly interested in and encouraged by their HMOs to do.What’s not clear is what Google stands to gain from this service. Will Google sift through your medical records ala Gmail and provide small little Google Ads targeted to your past and present ailments? Will there be a built in search tool tailored to medical advice? And if you don’t have time to go to the doctor can you open up your Google medical info service, type a question into the box, and hit the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button?It sounds a bit intrusive to me, but Microsoft has already rolled out a similar service (yes–MS beat Google to the punch with their HealthVault service).