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network effect

Adieu, LifeCOMM

“Qualcomm pulls the plug on LifeComm”  announced Brian Dolan of mobihealthnews recently. 

As demonstrated by e-CareManagement blog readership, there has been a lot of interest in LifeCOMM.  My first blog post on LifeCOMM in 2007 has been single the most commented on post and the second most widely read blog post.

It’s taken me a while to sift through my thoughts and feelings about saying “Goodbye” to LifeCOMM. At first I was deeply disappointed, but after further reflection think that LifeCOMM wasn’t the right […]

Untangling the Electronic Health Data Exchange

by David C. Kibbe MD, MBA

The purpose of this post is to help a non-technical audience untangle some of the confusion regarding health data exchange standards, and particularly come to a better understanding of the similarities and  differences between the Continuity of Care Record (CCR) standard and the CDA Continuity of Care Document (CCD). But what I’m most interested in is getting beyond the technical, political, or economic positions and interests of the proponents of any particular standard to arrive […]

Feds Call on Google and Microsoft to Breathe Life into the NHIN

Vince Kuraitis and David C. Kibbe, MD MBA

Who is the federal  government calling on to breathe life into the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN)? Google and Microsoft.

In our first article of this series describing the Personal Health Information Network (PHIN), we noted early entrants as Google Health, Microsoft HealthVault, and Dossia.  We also noted that the network could grow rapidly, and that others would want to join or link to the PHIN.

With Uncle Sam announcing plans to link to the PHIN, […]

Birth Announcement: the Personal Health Information Network (PHIN)

Vince Kuraitis and David C. Kibbe, MD MBA 

The Internet and digital technologies have transformed many aspects of our lives over the past twenty years.  We can get cash at ATMs all over the world; we can book our own airline reservations; we can shop and get best prices over the Internet.

Why hasn’t this happened in health care?  Something is missing.

Recently, major global information and communication companies have announced their intention to bring their technologies and business models to health care.  […]

A First Comparison of Google Health and MS HealthVault

While details are thin, here’s a first pass at comparing and contrasting Google Health (GH) and Microsoft HealthVault (HV).  Overall, there are many common features, some differences, and many common challenges between these two platforms. 

A High Level Comparison

Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault Personal Health Information (PHI) Platforms

There’s still not much information available about the specifics of GH, although they did release sketchy information on the Official Google Blog.  I’ll comment on a few of the particulars.

UnitedHealth a First Mover for “PHRs for Life”. Way to go!

CONGRATULATIONS to UnitedHealth!  They’ve announced that they are making their personal health records (PHRs) transportable:

The OptumHealth and UnitedHealthcare units of Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth Group have made their personal health records service accessible for life.

That means an individual covered by UHC insurance or OptumHealth’s outsourced health and wellness services will be able to access their PHR–and continue to enter data into it–if they change jobs or insurance coverage.

Prediction:  over time, the market will force all employers, payers, and providers to provide interoperable and […]

Four Misconceptions About HealthVault and the Emerging Personal Health Information Ecosystem (PHI-Ecosystem)

by Vince Kuraitis and David C. Kibbe, MD MBA 

The health care and technology worlds are still trying to figure out what Microsoft’s HealthVault (HV) is all about.  We believe that there are a number of misconceptions out there about what HV is and isn’t:

Misconception #1: HealthVault is a personal health record (PHR).

Misconception #2: People don’t trust Microsoft, so they won’t sign up for and use HV.

Misconception #3: Patients don’t understand PHRs, don’t want them, and don’t know what they’d do with them.  […]

Microsoft’s HealthVault: User Manual = C-, Strategy to Create a New Ecosystem = A

Would you like to have the experience of being parachuted into a deep forest with no map of where you are or clues about how to get out?  If so, I suggest that you go directly to Microsoft’s new PHR at www.healthvault.com and just TRY to figure out where you are or where you’re headed.

Initial confusion put aside, I think HealthVault is strategically brilliant.  While I’d give Microsoft a C- for explaining HealthVault (HV), I’ll give them an A for […]

“In God We Trust” is NOT an Option for Your PHR: 5 Responses to the Google Health Trust Issue

Dear readers, 

Thanks for your interest and feedback on my recent posting Connecting the Dots…Google Health Promises to Create AND Dominate Next Generation PHRs.

Despite being over 3,500 words long, this essay has quickly become the #1 most widely read posting on my blog.  It continues to generate several hundred views per day and has been linked to by over a dozen other bloggers and news sources.

Reader comments center around two primary themes:

1) Should I trust Google Health’s (GH’s) next generation personal health record (PHR) with my […]

Connecting the Dots…Google Health Promises to Create AND Dominate Next Generation PHRs

Google Health (GH) could be the event of the decade in advancing health care reform — not just healthcare information technology (HIT) reform, but health care system reform. GH promises simultaneously to create AND dominate the market for next generation personal health records (PHRs). There is nothing else in our solar system or in the entire universe like it.

While Google has not “officially” announced the details of GH, they’ve left a lot of clues. In this essay I’m going to […]