Google, Microsoft ask government to give web more weight in health IT plans

Lord knows, the federal government is dishing out money and attention to health IT vendors already. But according to Microsoft and Google, Obama administration officials haven't spent enough time considering the virtues of web-based technologies in promoting EMR adoption.

Last week, Google and Microsoft execs shared this view of the world with the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, arguing that the Administration's current plans don't take enough advantage of flexible web technologies. The group, known as PCAST, includes national coordinator for health IT David Blumenthal, John Glaser, adviser to ONCHIT and Aneesh Chopra, President Obama's CTO.

Google chair and CEO Eric Schmidt told the group that the Administration's current plans--which can be fairly said to focus on enterprise EMR technology--encourage health IT managers to spend their limited capital on outdated systems. Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie, meanwhile, asserted that health IT objectives should emphasize medical data management, not the technology used to channel that data.

To learn more about this presentation:
- read this iHealthBeat.org piece

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