The End of Google Health
In case you missed it last week (and I did), Google Health announced it was closing up shop by the end of 2011. There have been a number of articles detailing what went wrong and what it all means. With questions surrounding electronic medical records (EMR) becoming more acute, this development retains significance among those of us working in digital healthcare.
Below is an aggregate of opinions, not all mine necessarily, followed by a few links:
Google bailed too early. The company operates on a “fail fast” innovation model and sometimes doesn’t allow adequate time for mainstream adoption. Google moved the industry just enough that some are calling the early abandonment of GH a big mistake.
Consumer empowerment should have been emphasized more. The untethering of personal health records (PHR) was never going to be the final destination. GH should have been positioned as a conduit to channel health information from point to point, allowing consumers to populate their individual patient portals from a variety of sources.
Google missed an obvious point of entry. Some GH reps blamed insurance agencies for not releasing data, while others blamed health providers for not buying-in with enough enthusiasm. The real gap in GH was a failure to reach vertical tech groups, many of whom were already affiliated with hospitals/labs and had created robust API’s to interface with those systems.
Positioning was everything. GH established itself as a data repository and not much else. There still existed a need for someone to tie all this data together and create a workable, compliant distribution model.
PHR systems need to be marketed. PHR require patients, who won’t use a service unless it comes from an intermediary they trust. Patients rarely think about their health history until the day of their appointment. It’s not feasible to expect consumer behavior to change solely by dangling a technology carrot.
The future is unknown. Some think GH should go open-source. Some think Microsoft’s HealthVault now has an open door. Some think the healthcare industry should own the solution, some think health plans and providers should stay out of technology altogether. Everyone agrees that the opportunity is genuine and the need authentic.
Links about the End of Google Health
- Read more about the EMR perspective
- ReadWriteWeb gives their take from a technology perspective
- The Washington Post thinks it’s all about the financials
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