triple|scape

Google Health is going into trials with The Cleveland Clinic, according to ZDNet and others. While I applaud the idea of personal health records that patients can actually have access to, I’m a bit wary of how that information might be used.

“Wait!”, you say. “HIPAA was created to protect patient privacy, right? So what’s to worry about?” Well, it turns out the HIPAA only applies to health care providers. If you voluntarily give your information to a third party (ie. Google Health), HIPAA no longer applies. Great.

Get ready for targeted pharmaceutical advertising, and the eventual abuse of your personal information for (someone else’s) financial gain.