Google tests online system to store health records

Google tests online system to store health records

Web search company Google Inc is testing in the United States an online storage bank where individuals can store and access their medical records, the company said on Thursday.

Just last week, Google said it was teaming up with the Cleveland Clinic, a leading academic medical center, to test an exchange of medical data that Google says will put the patient in charge of his own records. The electronic system will allow patients to control their records and interact with multiple physicians, health care service providers and pharmacies.

Google said other possible partners include health insurer Aetna Inc, medical testing company Quest Diagnostics, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies, and hospitals.

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, addressing a Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference in Orlando, Florida, described a secure information service in which consumers store their health records in a Web-based system on Google computers.

Access to medical records would require a login and password, he said. Privacy is one of the first principles of the system, Schmidt added.

"The information in your health record is yours and it doesn't get shared with anyone else without your permission," he said.