Complete control over our personal heath data

How many of you have had problems getting access to your own health records? If insurance companies, employers, and the government can have access to your own records, why is it so difficult for you to gain access to your own records?

Well, Google is planning to put an end to this inefficiency (one of many) in our health care system.

Adam Bosworth, VP of engineering at Google, gave a speech at the 2007 American Medical Association of Informatics (AMIA) Spring Congress on Tuesday regarding a vision of what we all should expect from our health care system over the next decade (and we believe Google will be the key player in helping this vision become reality).

As Adam said:

This vision for the future of health care starts with the premise that consumers
should own their own total personal health and wellness data (I'll call it PHW
for short) and that only consumers, not insurers, not government, not employers,
and not even doctors, but only consumers, should have complete control over how
it is used. As an additional premise, we believe consumers should have the right
to all data that is about their personal health and wellness in electronic form.

And three principles that are core to the future of health care system are:

Discovery - Consumers should be able to discover the most relevant health information possible

Action - Consumers should have direct access to personalized services to help them get the best and most convenient possible health support

Community - Consumers should be able to learn from and educate those in similar health circumstances and from their health practitioners

It's about time consumers and their needs are put on the forefront in our health care system.

If anyone can realize this vision, Google can! We're with them!