I recently had the pleasure of seeing a demonstration of Google Health at a meeting that I was attending. Aside from some issues with the demonstration of connecting the account to a PHR at Beth Israel Deaconess (live demos are dangerous!), I was impressed at the progress that Google has made with their platform.

I was left pondering where Google Health along with other recent market entrants such as Microsoft’s Healthvault fit into the overall picture of online tools for patient empowerment. The answer to that question will be the source of debate for some time to come, but the vision that each healthcare organization adheres to will inform their ehealth strategies for the next several years.

As a co-chair for the HIMSS eHealth Special Interest Group, I am very excited about an upcoming Webinar intended to provide insights into how the Personal Health Record space is evolving and where it may be heading in the future.

Topic: Personal Health Records (PHR) Webinar hosted by HIMSS E-health SIG
Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Speakers: Wes Rishel from Gartner and Matt Guldin formerly of Frost & Sullivan
Time: 2:00 pm, Central Standard Time (GMT -06:00, Chicago)

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To register for this meeting
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1. Go to https://himss.webex.com/himss/j.php?ED=114306672&RG=1&UID=0
2. Register for the meeting.

The Webinar is free for HIMSS members. If you’re not a HIMSS member, find one in your organization and bring them along.

I’ll be moderating the event and we’re planning to leave plenty of time to address questions from attendees. I also welcome questions submitted beforehand – just submit them as comments here (I’ll get them even if we don’t publish them to the blog).