Microsoft HealthVault: a bold, quiet launch?
I stumbled upon a very important initiative from Microsoft: HealthVault. Here’s their blurb:
When it’s your job to protect your family’s health, you need every advantage. Imagine if you had a way to collect, store, and share the health information critical to your family’s well-being. HealthVault is the new and FREE way to do just that.
They officially opened the site in October ‘07, and I only found out about it through Jon Udell’s blog. Not that Jon isn’t a media giant, but I would have thought I would have heard about it through one of my other Microsoft information channels. So, with a few hours to ponder the project, here is what I know:
Here are some of Jon’s interviews and articles with the minds behind the project:
- http://blog.jonudell.net/2007/10/26/a-conversation-with-sean-nolan-chief-architect-for-healthvault/
- http://blog.jonudell.net/2007/10/04/will-heathvault-help-create-a-market-for-translucent-medical-records-i-hope-so/
- http://blog.jonudell.net/2007/10/09/tirekicking-healthvault/
My take: Their first pass at the system presents a simple web site front-end with a Live Search engine and a barebones user interface to manage your yet-to-be-populated health records. With one of several third-party tools, you can catalog existing health records, receive test results from health assessment and screening companies, or monitor current physical readings with compatible monitoring devices.
Microsoft is focusing on the storage and communication platform.
The third parties seem focused on how to sell you gadgets, medical screening tests, and consultation services. I browsed through a number of the third-party web sites, and I was surprised by how I fell into the sales pitches, wondering where I could get my scan, or get my cholesterol test, or get a whatever…
For the moment, all I want is something free to track my weight and workouts with. I want to start very simple, then add other stuff in as I get more comfortable with the idea of Microsoft storing my family’s medical information. It will take me a good long while for the HealthVault team (or any other company’s product team) to earn my trust. I’m old enough to think that I may never be 100% comfortable with that idea. I keep wondering when the first hacker data heist will happen, not if it will happen.
On the flip side, I am much more likely to use a centralized system like HealthVault because it means that I am no longer confined to a single data silo. With a centralized system, my hard-earned info will not be trapped and held hostage on some data island. With a centralized system, I can switch between font-end providers while retaining my investment in my data. It is my data. It is my data. It is my data. I really like that. To get that, I guess I have to trust someone.
The HealthVault project is similar-but-different from Google?s entry into the space. (Read about Google?s own solution here.) I am slightly less worried about the external threats to my data if it were housed by Google, but I would be more concerned about potential internal security threats. I just think “Those damn Google hippies.” It’s a personal and unfounded perception problem on my part, but my perception is my reality. Vendors have to deal with it if they want to win my trust.
) Your Reply...