Google Health coming next week to save the world?

[rwingo]

There is a brief blurb over at usatoday.com suggesting that Google may announce Google Health next week:

Originally Posted by Kevin Maney @ usatoday.com

Marissa Mayer, Google's VP of search products and user experience, came to USA TODAY on Tuesday. She mentioned that there would be a couple of big announcements next Wednesday at the annual Google Press Day...

Anyway, Marissa then said, "Health is an interesting one -- keep your eye out for that next week." But that was about it. Considering that hint, though, an announcement of a Google Health site seems a good bet. Rumors about just such a site have been bouncing around the Web on sites such as SearchEngineWatch.

There has been a fair amount of speculation in the blog community regarding Google's hiring of Adam Bosworth:

Originally Posted by Barry Schwartz @ searchenginewatch.com

Garett Rogers reports of a recent Google hire, Adam Bosworth, with the title "Architect, Google Health." Garett asks, what would the Architect, Google Health do at Google? I have read some speculation that Google's enormous database can potential cure the world of illnesses. It can help be a predictive gauge for diseases to come, as well. This is all just speculation, but based on Bosworth's background, something may be up at Google.

One of the more interesting (and well thought out) comments on how Google Health could have an even bigger positive impact on medicine comes from Dean Giustini:

Originally Posted by Dean Giustini @ BMJ 2005;331:1487-1488 (24 December)

However, if [Google] wishes to do something for medicine, Google should consider creating a medical portal. Call it Google Medicine; design an interface with medical filters and better algorithms; lead to the best evidence (just don't forget to consult with librarians about where the evidence is located). This kind of all purpose tool is badly needed in medicine, particularly for developing countries.

And there is this comment on the usatoday.com blog entry:

Originally Posted by Johann @ usatoday.com

A couple of months back some guy came to my university to give a talk on areers in google: I talked to him afterwards about his work and he mentioned google health - he said he was heading a team that was trying to use statistical data (very much like the "did you mean" spellcheck feature) to extract meaning from health queries. He said the goal was to have a system that would take a user's query, decide if it was health related, and order search results using a heuristic related to 'diagnosis' (he was adamant that it would not be a diagnosis system, merely a "helper").

Also, Fard Johnmar asks the question "What are the implications of Google Health?":

Originally Posted by Fard Johnmar @ healthcarevox.com

As wonderful as this state of affairs is, I wonder how Google will answer tough questions like:

-Who (or what) will decide what information is important?
-What will be highlighted: Corporate or individual information?
-Who will decide what is credible?
-How will Google handle inappropriate content or government censors?

Given this, I could see Google getting in trouble if it bowed to pressure to only highlight certain types of information about sexual health (abortion, the morning after pill, etc.), blockbuster medications and other topics. If Google is going to filter healthcare information, it must do so in a transparent and credible fashion.

And Don Seamons has this interesting idea from the viewpoint of a blogger and potential Google Health "customer":

Originally Posted by Don Seamons @ Compression

For the sake of argument, let's assume it works beautifully and is wildly successful. Does that mean the big content providers (e.g. WebMD) and the small publishers (bloggers) will be stymied? I don't think so. Google isn't the last word on any subject, much less health. Google Health will get the conversation started. From there, if the content providers get it right, people will find a world of information that will help them make their own decisions.

My advice to the content providers is to embrace a world where search starts your relationship with your customers. Make your site not just a information dispenser but a conversation facilitator. It's time to stop thinking of your site as a one-stop destination. It's time for every health information site to, in the words of Hugh McLeod, help people have "smarter conversations" online, because smart conversations online will help them have smarter conversations with their physicians.

In short, every health information source needs to blog.

So what is Google Health going to be? I guess we'll have to tune in next week to find out.

Technorati tags: google health, health information