Google Health - PHR and Microsoft Healthvault
When Microsoft lags in a certain technology, they are pretty good at getting back and taking lead. Remember how they killed netscape with IE? Well, there is an other face to that coin. In technologies that Microsoft really invests and becomes a leader - the space itself did not seem to grow. Example is IP TV, the technology was way ahead of its time. Now why am I writing all this history - simple I see something similar happening in the Healthcare space between Google and Microsoft.
Microsoft has definitely been very aggressive in the Healthcare space. I still remember the fancy looking demo that Steve Balmer made in HIMSS 07 in New Orleans. But since the last year Microsoft sure has done some good investments and built some good products. Azyxxi was a good acquisition, Healthvault is a good attempt. I did create an account in Healthvault to see if I being a healthcare IT guy would use it - guess what, after 10 mins of curiosity there was nothing much I would do with it in the future. The reason being data, if I were to key in all my data, upload it etc. I would rather not do it. I think it is working in pockets its not really working overall.. its my view.
Now that leaves us with the big question, what will big daddy Google do with Healthcare? Well, there are plenty of things Google could do. But I kind of think their wait strategy might be a good one. Wait till all the Microsoft initiatives fail or have decent levels of success, learn from it and go for the kill. Irrespective of what they decide to do, I think doing something in Healthcare in the US is like fighting the battle with handcuffs on. The handcuffs of lack of access to real patient data - because payers are making millions using that data. Companies like Ingenix of UHG have built a business model on it, so why will they let go of data for free? And if Google or Microsoft cannot get hold of that data on a real-time basis, they cannot do much.
It will be interesting to see what these two gaints do in the Healthcare space.
Microsoft has definitely been very aggressive in the Healthcare space. I still remember the fancy looking demo that Steve Balmer made in HIMSS 07 in New Orleans. But since the last year Microsoft sure has done some good investments and built some good products. Azyxxi was a good acquisition, Healthvault is a good attempt. I did create an account in Healthvault to see if I being a healthcare IT guy would use it - guess what, after 10 mins of curiosity there was nothing much I would do with it in the future. The reason being data, if I were to key in all my data, upload it etc. I would rather not do it. I think it is working in pockets its not really working overall.. its my view.
Now that leaves us with the big question, what will big daddy Google do with Healthcare? Well, there are plenty of things Google could do. But I kind of think their wait strategy might be a good one. Wait till all the Microsoft initiatives fail or have decent levels of success, learn from it and go for the kill. Irrespective of what they decide to do, I think doing something in Healthcare in the US is like fighting the battle with handcuffs on. The handcuffs of lack of access to real patient data - because payers are making millions using that data. Companies like Ingenix of UHG have built a business model on it, so why will they let go of data for free? And if Google or Microsoft cannot get hold of that data on a real-time basis, they cannot do much.
It will be interesting to see what these two gaints do in the Healthcare space.
posted by Susheel Ladwa at 8:59 PM
1 comments
