Google & Microsoft developing online health solutions
The idea of electronic medical records is not a new concept. The government has been pushing this concept to reduce paperwork. The issue that has slowed adaption by physicians is connectivity. Physicians today still write patient information into medical folders which are stored at the physicians office. In the future a low cost platform maybe delivered that allows both connectivity and usability but for now that is something very few physicians want or can afford.
Then there are the patients...how will they feel about having all their medical information online with the potential to be hacked by anyone with computer savvy? With stories of lost laptops and accidental releases of confidential data I believe that a LOT of people will not want their medical history stored online. Of course the reason that Google and Microsoft are salivating over these new platforms is that they can in turn sell advertising and search to health care companies including pharma. Imagine, for example, that you are a diabetic and keep your records on Google Health. You check to see when your last appointment with your physician was and an ad for Byetta pops up as an alternative to Avandia. As you can see the potential is enormous for targeted advertising. However this author feels that both Google and Microsoft are missing the boat.
According to recent research as many as 60% of online consumers have searched the Internet for health information. Google and Microsoft see that as an opportunity but in the numbers they lack an understanding. Consumers are overwhelmed with information; we have gone from an era of too little information to too much information. Type in diabetes in Google and your likely to get over a million hits. Where do consumers start? The key to providing a sustainable model will be to employ Web 3.0 to filter that information in such a way that the information is personally relevant to that online consumer. With the privacy issues patients may not want their medical history stored on the Web where it can be hacked or reviewed by potential employers.
Another factor to consider is "why are people
searching for health information?". I feel that
there are several reasons for this; first, baby
boomers, who are skeptics of the establishment,
are reaching ages when they are dealing with the
chronic illness of a parent or parents. As their
parents get terminally ill and pass away boomers
may be determined "not to let this happen to me".
They are taking a more proactive approach to
their healthcare choices and want to make
informed decisions. Boomers are also reaching
that period in their lives when they need more
prescription medications. They want to review
their choices and make tradeoffs with potential
side effects. They go into their physicians
office with printed material from the Web and
thus the physician becomes and information
navigator.
Providing a solution by looking at the numbers
may not work today. Google and Microsoft need to
look beyond the numbers at consumer behavior;
that is they need to ask "why" instead of looking
at numbers and seeing a revenue opportunity.
Looking beyond the numbers is what savvy
marketing is all about in an information driven
world.
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What
is Web 3.0?
To many, Web 3.0 is something called the Semantic
Web, a term coined by Tim Berners-Lee, the man
who invented the (first) World Wide Web. In
essence, the Semantic Web is a place where
machines can read Web pages much as we humans
read them, a place where search engines and
software agents can better troll the Net and find
what we're looking for. "It's a set of standards
that turns the Web into one big database," says
Nova Spivack, CEO of Radar Networks, one of the
leading voices of this new-age Internet.