After several years languishing in the backwoods of Google’s server farms, Google Health got its plug pulled today. Why did the ambitious project to record your health record online and help you research your every ailment fail? I asked this to Adam Bosworth, the former Googler who originally created Google Health, a few weeks ago when he was in the TCTV studio to talk about his new health startup Keas.
In a sentence, he said, “It’s not social.” In the video clip above, we talk about why Google Health never seemed to go anywhere. Bosworth says the problem was that “Google didn’t push to see what could they do that people would want. They basically offered a place to store date, but people don’t want a place to store data.”
Bosworth has learned that you have to make things fun to motivate people. Even healthcare. “If it’s not fun, it’s not social, why would they do that?” he asks. “Yes, they want to be healthy, but they want more than that. They want the encouragement and even the pressure of friends.”
Google Health takes users’ medical records and brings them online. Users make personal profiles and add their medical info such as conditions, medications, allergies, procedures, test results, and immunizations. Additionally users can import health records from Walgreens and other partners. Users choose who has access to their records, and can revoke access to anyone at anytime. Google says they won’t share records with anyone unless asked to do so by the user. Users can spice up their profiles...
Adam Bosworth is a technology leader and innovator who was instrumental in building numerous technology products, including Google Health, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Internet Explorer and BEA WebLogic Integration and Workshop. After facing serious family challenges with the health care system, Adam decided to transition from 25 years of building databases and software to apply this knowledge and pursue his passion for helping people become healthy and well. He founded Keas in 2008 to bring together the latest technology, medical information...
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Boston, MA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
