Google Health: ho hum... so far
Although I'm leery of Google (see Is Google a threat to e-health?) if it's useful enough I may get drawn in. That day isn't here yet, though. Theoretically I'm one of the first patients who could benefit. I get my care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and my health plan is Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBS MA). Both companies are early partners of Google Health. That should mean that I can use Google Health to integrate my health plan and provider data.I signed up for Google Health using my existing Google account. It was then a matter of only a very few clicks to sign into the BIDMC PatientSite portal and upload my information to Google. Unfortunately the only information that can be transferred so far is basic demographics (e.g., age, sex), allergies, medications, and diagnoses. Luckily my data fields are fairly empty. I can't yet transfer lab results or immunizations. BCBSMA doesn't have any functionality at all yet, probably because the partnership was just announced.Anyway I guess I'll have to wait a little longer.