Google's blog on Google Health

Google's official blog has a current post about Google Health, which I discovered the existence of myself at Moveo's blog and posted an entry about yesterday. Google Health is a new personal health record (PHR) letting people post and manage health records and histories online.

I'm just spitting back some information from the Google blog, which gives four differentiating factors of the new site over others: 1) Assurance of privacy and security; 2) A platform letting you import records and test results, and later, set appointments and fill scrips; 3) Portability of health records; and 4) User focus.

I'm particularly interested and excited about the last point. Google says, "We aren't doctors or healthcare experts, but one thing Google can create is a clean, easy-to-use user experience that makes managing your health information straightforward and easy."

If Google can execute on the usability promise, which certainly is a brand asset, it's a piece that's been missing piece all along. Past PHRs have been convoluted and kind of ugly. I'd be surprised if they built any consumer confidence in the security question, as a lot of the ones I saw have kind of a homegrown look. Here's some other PHRs:

http://www.myphr.com/
http://www.recordsforliving.com/HealthFrame/Ideas/PersonalHealthRecord.aspx
http://www.pdhi.com/webnew/products/ConXushealth.asp

The other point of interest is the platform description, which claims it will allow integration with services, tasks and providers. In the past, similar services have lacked background muscle on promotion and networking to fill them adequately with participating providers. Again, I'm hoping Google's brand clout will get the participation to make this aspect worth consumer's time.

I'm considering reviewing the service and writing about it; has anybody used Google Health?