It appears the Microsoft wants to get it's hands into the healthcare business. They launched a public beta of HealthVault, which the company claims to be a secure service that allows users to centrally store health documents and information. HealthVault aims to make dealing with complex healthcare easier by
putting users in control of entering information from various doctors
and making select parts of it available to whoever they
choose—including the doctors themselves. This, in turn, is supposed to
help guide doctors through a more complete diagnosis with the
additional information, as well as prevent conflicting prescriptions.
I would be very skeptical of services like HealthVault and Google Health
because they put health records directly in the hands of
not-very-trustworthy patients. Patients are historically poor at
remembering everything said to them by doctors, while others may not be
in the mood to enter everything
that exists on their records. Doctors who use the data provided to them
by the patient through HealthVault will have to be aware that the
information is only as good as the patient's memory and willingness to
disclose his or her medical history—it may not contain all necessary
info. It could even be flat-out wrong. And as long as patients have
such direct write access to their records, something like HealthVault
cannot be universally adopted by the healthcare system if it wants to
provide complete and accurate services.
The service is still in beta form, so changes like this could still
take place before it officially launches. Until then, though, the
technology will remain a novelty for many healthcare professionals.