October 05, 2007

Microsoft announced today that is is offering a free Web portal for consumers who want to save all of their health related information in one permanent, secure site.

HealthVault (healthvault.com) comes at a time when many technology companies are racing to offer electronic medical records and other online health tools.

"A lot of tech verticals that promised billions of dollars of revenue to their bottom line to have health information tools ... haven't produced," said Dr. David Brailer, former head of health information technology for the Bush administration who now leads Health Evolution Partners, a San Francisco firm that invests in medical ventures. "Many of those companies have stepped back and, in the middle of that, Microsoft steps forward and does this."

One expert said that "If Microsoft can show...that health technology cn work with consumers in control of their data, this changes everything." After having watched friends try and shuffle their health care records back and forth between different hospitals and doctors, I do think this could be a big step forward.

But what the market really needs to jumpstart health IT is for consumers to be able to shop for their own health care - which will encourage providers to invest in interoperable health IT as a selling point for their businesses. Nobody had to tell banks that they needed their ATM cards to work in New York and Hong Kong, consumers just demanded it. When consumers rule in health care, health IT will explode.

Posted by Paul Howard at October 5, 2007 03:54 PM

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