As Google Forges Ahead With Personal Health Records, Some Wonder If Tech Giants Can Be Trusted With Personal Health Info

According to the Associated Press, Cleveland Clinic announced today that “1,500 to 10,000 patients [have] volunteered to an electronic transfer of their personal health records so they can be retrieved through Google's new [Google Health] service, which won't be open to the general public."

Google is the latest tech company to venture into the health space.  Last year, Microsoft introduced HealthVault, which is an effort to encourage people to manage their health information using applications powered by the company’s software. 

In both cases, some have been very concerned about how medical information will be used by companies, especially Pat Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum (WPF).  According to a report issued yesterday by WFO:

“Some PHRs (personal health records) can have significant negative consequences for the privacy of consumers who authorize the maintenance of their health records by PHR vendors. Federal rules for health providers and insurers do not protect records maintained by many PHR vendors.” Among the most troubling consequence of an unsecure PHR are:

-Non-HIPAA covered PHR data may be sold or shared without a consumers’ consent

-Content in a PHR may be inadvertently shared with others, causing serious personal and business consequences. 

Google’s Marissa Mayer says the company entered into a partnership with the Cleveland Clinic to help patients “easily access and manage their own health information.”  This is a laudable goal, but will regulators and consumers be satisfied?

What’s your take on the role technology companies should play in the rush to facilitate health consumerism?