Google decided to respond to claims that Google Health, its health care IT service devoted to collecting users medical information, can import and display incorrect data. Health care IT has become an increasingly important segment of the IT industry, with major players ranging from Google to Microsoft rolling out continuously updated solutions for patients and caregivers.Google is responding to claims that its Google Health solution, which allows users to
collect their medical information in an online account and then port it to their
health care provider, has the potential to display inaccurate
information.
The controversy that erupted earlier in April
2009 stemmed from the experience of kidney cancer survivor Dave deBronkart, who
transferred his medical records from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to
Google Health. In the process, Google Health apparently took information from
his billing records to incorrectly state that deBronkart suffered from a number
of conditions, including chronic lung disease.
The culprit, as it turned out, was the billing codes and
associated descriptions in those records.
"These descriptions, from the International Classification of
Diseases (ICD-9), often do not accurately describe a patient because the right
ICD-9 code may not exist," Roni Zeiger, product
manager for Google Health, wrote in a blog posting. "So the doctor or
hospital administrator chooses something that is 'close enough' for billing
purposes. In other cases, the assigned code is precisely what the doctor is
trying to rule out, and if the patient turns out not to have that often scary
diagnosis, it is still associated with their record."
When Google Health replicated those billing codes, though,
it also assigned deBronkart some phantom conditions.
"We're also glad this happened," Zeiger wrote, "because we and many others now better understand
the limitations of certain types of health data and we are working with partners
to improve the quality of the data before it gets to Google Health and our
users."
Nonetheless, he added, "We are more committed than ever to
putting consumers in charge of their own health information."
Zeiger apparently met with the CIO at Beth Israel, along with
deBronkart and his physician; the hospital agreed to send only free text
descriptions from doctors, as opposed to ICD-9 billing codes, to Google Health
from this point forward. Those free text descriptions will be associated with a
clinical coding system known as SNOMED-CT.
In addition, Zeiger promised to drill more fully into the
overall issue of "data liquidity" to ensure that what reaches Google Health is
of higher quality.
Google has been upgrading Google Health in recent months,
reflecting a growing industry-wide push in health care IT. In March 2009, Google added
functionality so users could share their medical records and personal health
information with doctors and trusted contacts; it followed this by unveiling its
participation in a pilot program with the CMS (Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services) that would allow Medicare beneficiaries in Arizona and
Utah to import their Medicare claims data into Google Health.
Competitors to Google Health include Microsoft's
HealthVault technology, which was incorporated this month into Mayo Clinic
Health Manager, a personal health record service the Mayo Clinic will use to
allow patients to monitor their conditions and share information with
caregivers.
Users of the Mayo
Clinic Health Manager will be able to store health information obtained from
providers, upload data from home health devices and receive reminders about
their care.
Health Care IT 
