Microsoft HealthVault Unveiled

Microsoft’s long awaited and highly secretive health portal has been rolled out and is free for use by the public. HealthVault is essentially an online place to keep family’s electronic medical records and easily share them with medical providers. What Microsoft claims to have done is effectively create an electronic filing cabinet and a built-in fax machine that can selectively share data found in the cabinet with anyone connected to the internet. Additionally, the system allows for connectivity with devices like blood pressure meters and glucose monitors, that can upload their data to the system for a physician to review and for historical reference.
We imagine that a system like this might be useful in reverse, where a physician uploads information for the rest of the family to see, as in cases like a child away at camp or parents that live at a distance who visit a clinic.
Currently in beta, Microsoft’s HealthVault plans to stay free and to pay for itself through advertising on the built-in search engine.
HealthVault…
Update: Dr Enoch Choi has videos from the event.