Google Health? Not so fast
Electronic health records raise doubt
WASHINGTON – When Dave deBronkart, a tech-savvy kidney cancer survivor, tried to transfer his medical records from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to Google Health, a new free service that lets patients keep all their health records in one place and easily share them with new doctors, he was stunned at what he found.
Google said his cancer had spread to either his brain or spine – a frightening diagnosis deBronkart had never gotten from his doctors – and listed an array of other conditions that he never had, as far as he knew, like chronic lung disease and aortic aneurysm. A warning announced his blood pressure medication required “immediate attention.”
“I wondered, ‘What are they talking about?’ “ said deBronkart, who is 59 and lives in Nashua.
DeBronkart eventually discovered the problem: Some of the information in his Google Health record was drawn from billing records, which sometimes reflect imprecise information plugged into codes required by insurers. Google Health and others in the fast-growing personal health record business say they are offering a revolutionary tool to help patients navigate a fragmented healthcare system, but some doctors fear that inaccurate information from billing data could lead to improper treatment.</em>
Gosh, hard to see how this could have any downside, isn’t it? I mean, not as if there is a chance people accessing these records might not have a clue how to read them, right? And deny you coverage, or a job based on them? Nah, perish the thought.
