Michael Zimmer.org

It has been a while since I wrote about electronic/online medical records, but two stories popped onto my radar that deserve mention.
The first focuses on the inherent threats of having medical information stored and displayed electronically: bugs. Apparently one-third of the Department of Veterans Affairs 153 medical facilities fell victim to a bug in a recent software update, causing electronic medical records to display incorrect or misleading patient data, including vital signs, medications, stop orders, and lab results. As a result, a handful of patients received incorrect doses of intravenous …

The New York Times reports on commentary in the current New England Journal of Medicine where two doctors warn of the dangers of having large corporations like Microsoft or Google being in the business of storing patient medical records. Here’s the opening section of the doctors’ essay:
Tectonic Shifts in the Health Information Economy
In a recent shift in the health information landscape, large corporations are seeking an integral and transformative role in the management of health care information. The mechanism by which this transformation is likely to take place is through …

Google has provided some more information about their beta eHealth product, including this claim regarding privacy and security:
Privacy and Security – Due to the sensitive and personal nature of the data that will be stored in Google Health, we need to conduct our health service with the same privacy, security, and integrity users have come to expect in all our services. Google Health will protect the privacy of your health information by giving you complete control over your data. We won’t sell or share your data without your explicit …

Google announced the start of a pilot project to test its own electronic health records storage platform. The same privacy concerns that arise when considering Microsoft’s HealthVault solution apply here: How is the data stored? Is it encrypted? Who can access it? Etc.
In their announcement, Google promises: “Above all, health data will remain yours — private and confidential. Only you have control over when to share it with family members and health providers.” This is similar to the assurances Microsoft made to me, but Google provides no details.
A key concern …

Similar to my recent probes and interactions with the designers of the social networking site Moli, I recently enjoyed the opportunity to discuss privacy-related design issues with the product manager for Microsoft’s HealthVault platform.
HealthVault is Microsoft’s attempt to provide an online platform where personal electronic health records can be stored, managed, and shared with various healthcare providers. HealthVault also features a topical search engine allowing users to search specifically for health-related information (Microsoft will use sponsored search ads on the search engine to monetize the HealthVault platform). Microsoft’s press release …