E-Patient Dave evaluates Google Health – A comprehensive look with pros and cons

One item he speaks of in particular are mistakes found, and those related back to coding for most of what he spoke about, CPT codes and not ICD-9 so anyone who’s in healthcare billing knows that there could be some gray areas there. We do have a very complicated medical billing system in the US and this probably proves the point to a tee.

He was amazed at the amount of data that flowed in too, things perhaps one had not really thought about were there. He was also able to get his hospital records in there too as they participate with Google Health too, so E-Patient Dave it sounds like, had the opportunity to have a lot of data populate. He works in software sales, so he was somewhat prepared for the process. It’s a good review and he tells about his experience just as it was, not picking on anyone, just the story, and now believes in why we should all have a PHR. I hope he does the same with HealthVault so we have the ability to hear a review from the other side too. BD

This is cross-posted from the e-patient blog. I wrote it as my own somewhat astonished observations, but I had no idea how much uproar it would create. The commenters added a lot, so if you're interested in this subject, go there and look.
This is a complex post, so don’t jump to any conclusions.

Two weeks before that post, I’d had a personal breakthough in my thinking. For a year I’d been a rabid enemy of Google Health, but now I said: I’m putting my data in Google and HealthVault: “I’m concluding that we can do more good by aggregating our data into large, anonymized databanks that smart software can analyze to look for patterns. Early detection means early intervention means fewer crises.”

When Google Health launched last May, my hospital’s CIO blog said “we have enhanced our hospital and ambulatory systems such that a patient, with their consent and control, can upload their BIDMC records to Google Health in a few keystrokes. There is no need to manually enter this health data into Google's personal health record, unlike earlier PHRs from Dr. Koop, HealthCentral and Revolution Health.”
So I went into my patient portal, PatientSite, and clicked the button to do it. I checked the boxes for all the options and clicked Upload. It was pretty quick.

The really fun stuff, though, is that some of the conditions transmitted are things I’ve never had: aortic aneurysm and mets to the brain or spine.

The BIG question is, do you know what’s in your medical record? And THAT is a question worth answering. For every one of you.