Privacy Concerns
Google Health was an opt-in service, meaning it could only access medical information volunteered by individuals. It did not retrieve any part of a person's medical records without his or her explicit consent and action. However, it did encourage users to set up profiles for other individuals.
According to its Terms of Service, Google Health is not considered a "covered entity" under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996; thus, HIPAA privacy laws do not apply to it.
In an article covering Google Health's launch, the New York Times discussed privacy issues and said that "patients apparently did not shun the Google health records because of qualms that their personal health information might not be secure if held by a large technology company." Others contend that Google Health may be more private than the current "paper" health record system because of reduced human interaction.
Post-launch reactions to Google's stance that it was not a covered entity varied. Some were very negative, such as those of Nathan McFeters at ZDNet. Others, including Free/Open Source Software Healthcare activist Fred Trotter, argued that a personal health record service like Google Health would be impossible if it were HIPAA covered.
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