HIMSS08最后一天大新闻:Google CEO unveils Google Health

张琨

Google CEO unveils Google Health
28 Feb 2008

The veil came off the world’s worst-kept secret in healthcare IT Thursday, as Google chairman and chief executive Eric Schmidt announced the beta release of Google Health at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual conference in Orlando, Florida.

For now, the product is limited to the US market, though Alfred Spector, Google vice president of research and special initiatives said the California-based company has “started making contacts” with health authorities and potential business partners in unspecified international markets.

Google are not commenting publicly on potential business partners, but Schmidt addressed the issue in a press conference following his keynote address to the HIMSS conference.

“One of my regrets is we’re launching a US-only product, and the decision is a legal one,” Schmidt said. He noted that most health systems in Europe and elsewhere are run by governments, and thus a Google product would require government approval in those locations.

For now, though, as E-Health Insider reported last week, Google will test its product with 1,500 to 10,000 patients at the Cleveland Clinic, a prestigious private medical institution. The test will run for approximately two months, though Schmidt would not commit to a date for a general release of what now is a beta product.

In the US, patient and doctor uptake of PHRs has been notoriously slow, despite the proliferation of healthcare organisations, health insurers, independent technology companies and even large employers offering PHRs in a variety of flavours.

Schmidt said Google can change that by delivering a product that is not “too vertical” or “too specialised” like other PHRs out there.

张琨

在MS高调推出Health Vault之后，Google一个类似作品，都是PHR的感念。MS合伙的是Mayo clinic, Google合伙的是cleverland clinic.都是美国最领先的医疗机构。前AOL的CEO在头一天主题演讲介绍的Health Revolusion也是类似的概念。看来新一轮的Personal Health Record在巨头间的竞争开始了！
在Google的Booth上我问他们的方案和MS的Health Vault的区别，他们讲没有很大区别，而且现在连任何书面宣传资料都没有准备。国内不知道李开复等人有啥计划

张琨

Microsoft launches health IT product suite
25 Feb 2008

Microsoft provided further details of its latest product launches and rebranded comprehensive healthcare software suite at the giant Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) event in Orlando, Florida, today.

Branded under the name Microsoft Amalga, the portfolio now includes a hospital information system, an electronic patient record system (EPR), a picture archiving and communications system (PACS) , a radiology information system (RIS) and business information software.

The new suite of products will cover its Azyxxi database portal product, described as part of a new software category called ‘Unified Intelligence Systems’. Benefits are said to be allowing hospitals to “unlock the power of all their data sitting in isolated clinical, financial and administrative systems.”

According to Microsoft, the product offers an innovative route to enable hospitals and other complex healthcare organisations to get value from their data cost effectively.

“Without replacing current systems, it offers an innovative way to capture, consolidate, store, access and quickly present data in meaningful ways for use by clinicians and executives of leading-edge institutions,” says Microsoft.

The product is specifically targeted at big complex acute providers that have significant existing IT investments they want to preserve. Currently only available in the US, E-Health Insider understands the product will be launched into the UK market later in 2008.

Behind the scenes, Microsoft has been working with BT since 2007 to jointly bid and supply the product to one of the leading teaching hospitals in London.

“One of the healthcare enterprise’s biggest issues is that providers and executives can’t access patient information when, where and how they need it,” said Steve Shihadeh, general manager for Microsoft Health Solutions Group. “Microsoft’s Amalga products offer proven solutions that bring together information from across the healthcare enterprise into one, easily accessible view.”

Equally eye-catching is the announcement that Microsoft is to launch and market a complete hospital information system, based around its Hospital 2000 acquisition.

Amalga HIS is a fully integrated hospital information system “designed for developing and emerging markets”. Amalga HIS is built around an electronic medical record (EMR) with complete patient and bed management, laboratory, pharmacy, radiology information system and RIS/PACS, pathology, financial accounting, material management and HR systems.

To complete the proposition Microsoft is also to tackle the RIS/PACS market. In a statement the company said: “The new version of the product formerly known as CGS Amalga is now available as a stand-alone system as well as an integrated component of Amalga HIS.”

听雨弹剑

据国外媒体报道，谷歌首席执行官埃里克·施密特(Eric Schmidt )周四在佛罗里达州“关爱健康”会议上表示，将涉足敏感的医疗行业，开通谷歌健康网站，帮助美国病人掌握自己的医疗记录，病人也能通过安全共享医疗数据，有效配合医生、药剂师以及化验人员的工作。施密特同时表示，不会在谷歌健康出售广告。 　　
用户管理个人医疗记录 　　
施密特说，谷歌健康为用户提供了管理个人医疗记录的平台，可以储存用户的医生记录、服药历史和化验结果。谷歌健康的安全性很高，用户必须输入用户名和密码才能访问自己的医疗记录，类似于谷歌电邮。谷歌表示，已经与很多医院和医疗公司签署了合作协议，包括Quest Diagnostics Inc、Aetna Inc以及Walmart Stores Inc等。谷歌表示，用户的信息可以共享，但控制权掌握在用户手中，比如用户可以更改病历记录等。 　　几十年来，IBM、甲骨文和西门子等很多公司一直希望能将混乱的手写医生诊断记录电子数据化，并统一管理，但收效甚微。这些公司与谷歌有一个共同点，就是十分重视用户的隐私权。施密特表示：“每个人的健康记录都是私人的，不经过允许别人无权共享。”他还认为，电子化医疗记录发展缓慢的原因是缺少吸引用户的亮点，用户最关心的并非隐私问题，而是能否自己管理自己病例。 　　
不会出售广告
　　施密特表示，谷歌健康不会出售广告，主要收益来自于不同医疗机购之间共享病人的医疗信息。施密特反复强调，所有的数据信息共享都是将在用户的批准下进行。虽然谷歌健康的内容不会公开，但它仍是一个开放的系统，允许第三方建立直接针对用户的治疗方案或者免疫提醒服务。谷歌计划仿照谷歌资讯的模式经营，即不出售广告，依靠增加搜索网站的流量盈利。谷歌并不是唯一推广健康服务的网站。微软去年推出名为“健康门户”的网站，AOL的联合创始人史蒂夫·凯斯(Steve Case)也推出了一款名为“健康革命”的类似服务。健康门户有广告，但与健康记录和搜索是分离的。健康革命没有出售广告。谷歌认为，不出售广告是出于对隐私的考虑。 　　谷歌健康面临的最大的问题还不是这些。根据美国健康保险便利及责任法案(HIPAA)的规定，个人医疗记录在其它地方发布的之前，必须得到病人的通知。非营利性组织世界隐私论坛常务董事帕姆·迪克松(Pam Dixon)说：“一旦病人将敏感的医疗信息从医疗机构中提走，将失去重要保护。医生出于职业道德，总是将病人的利益放在第一位，而社会公司则将股东利益放在第一位。”迪克松认为，在线共享信息的做法是有争议的。施密特认为，谷歌健康至少比现在的系统安全。“在谷歌网站，用户的个人健康信息未经允许不会透露给任何人，并非HIPAA所担心的那样。”。施密特表示，如果谷歌健康受到限制，将会求助于法庭的帮助。
　　医生病人均受益 　　
施密特表示将谷歌健康描述为医生和病人都会受益的系统。他说：“将会有60亿人从这个系统中受益。最理想的结果就是每个上网的人都考虑拥有自己的健康记录。” 　　谷歌在克利夫兰诊所挑选了1370名志愿者对健康服务系统进行测试。施密特没有透露具体的发布日期，但表示会首先在美国推广，然后再到其它地方。