A Google vision for health data

Over the last few weeks, Google vice president Adam Bosworth has been making the rounds spelling out the search giant's vision for medical data sharing. Among his key points has been that strong authentication will be critical for the kind of online sharing necessary for patients to really benefit. Perhaps to reassure privacy advocates, who have vigorously questioned Google's philosophy of data ownership, Bosworth has been telling audiences that consumers "should own their total personal health and wellness data," and should have complete control of that data.

Not so coincidentally, Bosworth is also pitching Google's pending Auth/Sub [1] (Account Authentication Proxy for Web-Based Applications) app as the best way to make sure that online data is protected from unauthorized use. Auth/Sub authentication allows Web-based applications to access a Google user's account without giving away the whole tamale. For example, rather than giving a third party complete access to their account, users could expose their Google calendar to outsiders--and by the same token, could share medical data without making it public.

To find out more about Google's healthcare plans:
- read this eWeek article [2]
- read this GovernmentHealthIT column [3]

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