Va. Officials, Google Agree to Open State Databases Deal to Make Online Searching Easier
By TOM HOLDEN
BY TOM HOLDEN
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Finding doctors with a history of consumer complaints became a little easier Monday when Virginia officials announced an agreement with Google to ease Internet searches of state records.
The deal will make sleuthing more consumer-friendly by allowing all search engines – not just Google – access to many state databases that were previously off line.
Not only will the status of many licensed professionals be open for review, but so will the activities of departments that most people do not check at all.
“What this deal allows is for people to search deeper and into more content within the various state agency Web sites,” said Judy Napier , Virginia’s deputy secretary of technology.
The agreement was announced by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Eric Schmidt , Google’s chief executive officer.
In addition to records on licensed state professionals, faster access to 22 other state departments is now available.
Four of the leading sites – the departments of health professions, game and inland fisheries, conservation and recreation, and the Library of Virginia – receive an average of about 250,000 Web hits a month.
Aneesh Chopra , Virginia’s secretary of technology, cited physician records as the kind of information people would prefer to find quickly.
Most people choose personal physicians either by word of mouth or from an approved list provided by their insurance compan ies, Chopra said.
The Virginia Department of Health Professions lists information about physicians who hold licenses in Virginia – including education, academic appointments and paid claims.
“But not as many people use it as you might think,” Chopra said.
Previously , if a someone used Google to search for a doctor’s name, the results might turn up the doctor’s Web site or relationship to a hospital, but nothing from health regulators.
“The reason is the database housing the information on that doctor held by state regulators was not available to the search engine’s Web crawlers,” said Chopra. “They wouldn’t even know that name existed.”
The new agreement allows state agencies – within the confines of state privacy laws – to share data.
Even obscure state agencies are now more easily searched.
To read more about open records issues, go to the “Open & Shut” blog at www.pilotonline.com.
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Reach Tom Holden at (757) 446-2331 or tom.holden@pilotonline.com.
(c) 2007 Virginian – Pilot. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.