Insurer to offer Google Health to members despite privacy, security concerns
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, June 23, 2008
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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts will offer Google Health as a service to its members later this year, according to a June 13 article in The Boston Globe.
Members will be able to access the insurer’s records, which will include information about treatments they received. However, their physicians’ technological capabilities will determine the depth of the information they will be able to access, the newspaper reported.
"We believe Google Health will be an important tool used by our members to improve the safety and effectiveness of their healthcare," Cleve Killingsworth, chairman and chief executive of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, said in a statement.
Some patient and privacy advocates have expressed concern that electronic medical records, including those stored by Google Health may be vulnerable with respect to security, according to the article. Blue Cross and Blue Shield says the program is voluntary, and patient information stored on Google Health will be secure—and will not be sold or shared without consent.
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