June 9th, 2008
Kaiser links with Microsoft HealthVault
Kaiser Permanente will test data transfers to Microsoft HealthVault, creating a mechanism where over 2 million people will be able to quickly create Personal Health Records over the next year.
The Kaiser system goes by the name My Health Manager.
Kaiser spent an estimated $1.8 billion putting its patient records online through Epic Systems. After extensive controversy the investment is now starting to pay off and it’s being rolled out nationwide.
The deal with HealthVault will, in time, allow up to 8 million KP members quickly create deep Personal Health Records under their own control, fueled by data directly from Kaiser.
HealthVault already supports such standards as XML, HL7 , the ASTM Continuity of Care Record (CCR.), Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) and the Common Connectivity Device.
What’s unique here is the depth of the data patients will have access to, Microsoft said. “Consumers can not only see a record of a test that they had, but also the result of that test and in some cases, direct feedback from their doctors about the result,” the company said in a statement.
For Microsoft, the deal means it can work with a highly scaled data set, which should give HealthVault a leg-up in dealing with technical and privacy challenges in the rest of the market. Google, eat your heart out.
The initial trial is open only to Kaiser Permanente’s 156,000 employees.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist since 1978, and has covered technology since 1982. He launched the Interactive Age Daily, the first daily coverage of the Internet to launch with a magazine, in September 1994. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 06/10/08
