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New Google ™ Health Program…Are Your Medical Records Safe?

Posted by Leeann at 2:50 pm

 New Google Health Program in Testing

As a natural-born Beauty Chatter who values a healthy lifestyle, I feel obligated to tell you about my latest finding.

Recently there has been quite a buzz regarding a Google ™ project that is currently in testing: the online storage of medical records. According to Alan Newberger, a Google engineering manager, the program is dedicated to making the patient’s medical records more attainable and convenient.

To assess their health program, a “test run” has just been launched by Google at The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. About 10,000 participants have agreed to transfer their records to an online account that only they will have control over.

But with the storing of information online, a few questions are posed: What if my medical records get hacked into? Or, what if my information gets sold to companies? (Both of which will not happen, according to Google). And just how does this affect the world of plastic surgery (like “plastic surgery gone wrong” cases)?

Many don’t like the idea of their personal, private information being held in an arena that has the potential to be tapped into.

A great way to track your medical history or another way for a big corporation to have control over your life?

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Posted in: Health | Lifestyle | Men's Fashion and Lifestyle | Plastic Surgery | Something New

Comments (4)

4 Comments »

  1. Denice Castillo

    April 4, 2008 at 3:50 pm

    Yikes! I don’t know how I feel about this. If credit cards get hacked, why won’t this? No thanks!

  2. Chas.

    April 5, 2008 at 6:25 am

    The Veteran’s Administration medical system keeps all its patients medical records online and it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. Any physician, anywhere in the system can view your records in a second. But aper records eat up billions of $$ in storage and transfer costs, cause incredible delay and are actually more open to stealing or unauthorized viewing. To work, online storage of medical records would have to satisfy all the many requirements of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability Accounting Act,) a federal law regarding very strict privacy standards of medical information. So ask yourself: how often is your online banking account broken into or compromised? Any legal storage of medical records online would have to have that level of security. It would probably be a double or triple password protected system which could work against you in case of an emergency. You would have to be conscious and clear headed to give a doc or nurse the passwords.

  3. Leeann

    April 7, 2008 at 7:58 am

    Thanks for the info Chas. I’m sure that will make us all feel more comfortable if this study ever becomes a reality to the public.

  4. Linda

    April 7, 2008 at 9:58 pm

    Talk about privacy intrusion. ‘C mon google, stop trying to take over the world!

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