We try to shy away from rumors. This one is interesting, though, and is coming from Silicon Valley. It might even be true. So here it is. Google is in the planning stages for a new product that it hopes will modernize the way patients, physicians, pharmaceutical companies and vendors manage their medical information online, reported Joshua Jaffe of SeekingAlpha Network. Named Google Health Scrapbook, this product is still in the development stage. Here are some excerpts from the report:
Google executives met last week with their counterparts at WebMD (WBMD) in New York to pull them in as a partner for the new online service. They plan to pitch the product to other potential partners in the coming weeks.
The plan, as it stands now, calls for there to be four different directories for each different type of user. The prospect of listing a separate directory for medical devices seems to have been scrapped. Users will be able to log in with their own account information and do things such as add a new medical provider, check their medical records or pay their bills.
The product would also provide information about hospitals such as the frequency that a hospital performs a specific type of procedure or which hospitals perform which procedures most often.
Aside from WebMD, Google is hoping to partner with Intuit (INTU) on the product. Intuit currently offers consumers a software program that helps them keep track of their medical expenses. The company has already met with the CEO of AllScripts LLC (MDRX), Glen Tullman, and representatives of Epic Systems Corp., which has signed a non-disclosure agreement…
If the company’s Google Health Scrapbook launches, its health information offering will immediately go far beyond what is currently available to its users via Google Co-Op.
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