Microsoft HealthVault and Google Health

Long-time rivals Microsoft and Google have found something (relatively) new to bicker about: Internet-based personal health records (PHR).

Microsoft HealthVault and Google Health aren't the first PHRs on the block. Existing players include AllOne Mobile, Revolution Health, and dozens of others (see myPHR.com for a lengthy, but still incomplete, list).

In a way, HealthVault and Google Health aren't really PHRs at all, but rather platforms that PHRs can be built upon, or used to aggregate data. Microsoft, in particular, insisted at their recent HealthVault Summit that they don't intend to compete with Google Health, but rather to seek opportunities to integrate with it.

So, where are these guys going with this?

Microsoft HealthVault
Microsoft has had a great deal of success pushing their products through their partners, particularly ISVs. For example, we've benefited in the past from the fact that not only do we use Microsoft servers in our data center, but we also require the use of Microsoft Word for certain functions within AdvancedMD. Microsoft appreciates that, obviously, and helps us out with software licensing and co-marketing opportunities.

In the case of HealthVault, Microsoft hosts an annual HealthVault Solutions Conference where participants "hear directly from healthcare professionals, consumers, and Microsoft product managers to better understand the overall health landscape and product roadmap."

At the most recent conference, 40 vendors demonstrated products that they are building to interact with HealthVault.

Microsoft also announced that they would be awarding $4.5 million in grants to support organizations that are developing applications that are using the HealthVault platform.

Working through partners may help Microsoft overcome a lack of trust that the public has in the company to protect sensitive information, partially due to the highly-publicized security holes in Microsoft Passport.

Of particular interest is Kaiser Permanente's pilot program to provide health information to its nearly 160,000 employees using HealthVault. If the pilot is successful, it is likely that the program will extend to all of Kaiser's 2 million+ members.

Google Health
For its part, Google Health seems to be pursuing the consumer market more aggressively, which makes sense given its huge popularity and trust among everyone from 16 year-old script kiddies to 90 year-old grandmothers.

Even so, it seems reasonable to assume that Google will rely just as heavily on participation from partners (including Microsoft?) to achieve success, as a report from IDC suggests.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts recently announced that they will be providing their members with a mechanism to import claims data into their Google Health accounts, via their consumer health portal. The integration should be completed before the end of the year.

For a very interesting inside look at Google Health, check out this post by Robert Wachter, a contributor to The Health Care Blog. Fellow contributor Matthew Holt posted this in-depth test drive, also very useful.

So, is this healthcare's 21st century version of the battle between Beta and VHS? (For our younger readers, consider the fight between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.) Or can the two behemoths coexist?

It's hard to say. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, it is likely that we'll look most closely at HealthVault first. Ultimately, we (and other ISVs and health plans) will need to integrate with both. And they'll need to make nice and integrate with each other.