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Google is Well Positioned to Enter the Personal Health Record Market

Posted on: Thursday, 6 March 2008, 12:00 CST

Datamonitor believes that, through its brand strength, Google's entry into the personal health record market is likely to make personal health records a success and result in consumers becoming more knowledgeable about their health. While other companies have developed personal health records, the significance of Google's entry cannot be underestimated due to its unparalleled consumer reach.

The market for personal health records is a product of consumers becoming more powerful within healthcare: easy access to healthcare information on the internet means that patients can enter the physician's surgery more knowledgeable than ever before. Google's entrance into the market is particularly significant as it is one of the most powerful and well known consumer brands in existence today. While Google will not be able to depend solely upon its brand name to ensure the success of its personal health record (PHR) product, its history of successful past ventures stands the company in good stead. Furthermore, Google's significant consumer reach, both through its search engine and email, bodes well for the success of this new venture.

There are, however, other companies making their first foray into the PHR market. The most significant of these is Revolution Health, a company founded by Steve Case, the former CEO of AOL. Revolution Health demonstrates a breadth of offering and consumer appeal not unlike that of Google; however, as a start-up, it does not have the ready customer base or widely recognized brand of Google. In addition, Google is in a strong position for success in comparison with other companies, as it targets consumers in an advertisement-free environment.

Among the other companies developing PHRs are IBM, through Second Life, and Microsoft, through Health Vault. Overall, these companies are likely to achieve success by simply being involved in PHRs, and will benefit from any success that Google has within the PHR market as the trend seeps through the industry. Of the traditional IT vendors, IBM and Microsoft are demonstrating forward thinking by entering into this space and positioning themselves well for the future.

Just as the film industry has suffered as a result of fighting the issue of movie distribution on the internet rather than embracing it, healthcare technology companies may suffer the same fate if they do not accept PHRs and Google's venture. If vendors ignore the progress that Google and others are making, they may find themselves behind the times and considerably less competitive in the future. As such, Datamonitor believes that traditional vendors in the healthcare industry should embrace Google's entry as an opportunity for their own progress.

Some in the industry may be concerned that, if initially successful, Google will move further into the healthcare space. However, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, stated at HIMSS that the company had no intention of moving further into healthcare beyond PHRs, for example by developing their own electronic healthcare record (EHR). Datamonitor believes that it is unlikely that Google will expand its business further into healthcare, primarily because it would require an adjustment to its pricing model and distance the company from its position as a purely consumer-centric product.

The success of PHRs is going to depend upon their ability to become interoperable with EHRs: this is important both for PHR and EHR vendors. As consumers increasingly use Google and other vendors' PHRs, they will expect their healthcare provider to have interoperability between their PHR and the healthcare provider's EHR. A failure to be interoperable could result in the patient moving to another healthcare provider that is able to provide this service. Thus, both EHR vendors and systems integrators should work towards ensuring interoperability between EHRs and PHRs.

In addition, there is an opportunity for traditional vendors to offer their own PHRs within the market as an alternative to Google. While Google has been a great success, some consumers are suspicious of the company and its use of data. As a result, there will be opportunities within the market for multiple PHRs to exist alongside each other. Ultimately, however, because of its brand strength, consumer reach, and record of past successes, it is Google that is likely to have the greatest impact upon the industry, and bring PHRs into the living room of the population.

Source: Datamonitor

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