The "health" term has been buzzing around Google for a long long time now. We believe something on the health side of things is going to be announced at Google in early 2008, which is anytime now.
Google Blogoscoped captured a screen image of the Google Health login page, which showed the features that may be available in Google Health. FYI, the login page no longer contains the details of features, but here they are in bullet format:
- Build online health profiles that belong to you
- Download medical records from doctors and pharmacies
- Get personalized health guidance and relevant news
- Find qualified doctors and connect to time-saving services
- Share selected information with family or caregivers
Yes, we believe Google Health To Create The Personal Health Record and it seems like it.
A Search Engine Watch Forums thread asks if it will be tied into AdWords? Maybe based on a Google accounts profile, we know someone has a certain medical condition. Why not target that person based on his condition with medicine or doctors that appeal to that user. Google has relaunched a new form of demographic bidding that allows one to bid on gender and age within the content network - why not bid on disease or medical records also?
Of course, I am far reaching here. The privacy advocates would go nuts. But it is possible and conceivable that this can happen.
Google gave us a statement at Search Engine Land on the screen shots:
We're very interested in working on products in the area of health, and we've been blogging and speaking publicly about this for some time. While we have no additional information to share right now, we hope to in the future.
Would you put your medical information and history on Google? Here is a poll:
Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.
