Today's New York Times online reports on a partnership between Kaiser Permanent and Microsoft to open data flows between Kaiser's electronic records and Microsoft's personal health record application.
Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest nonprofit health maintenance organization, is endorsing the drive toward consumer-controlled personal health records in a partnership with Microsoft.The partnership, announced Monday, will begin with a pilot project open to Kaiser's 156,000 employees, which will run until November. If successful, the product linking Kaiser's patient information with Microsoft's Health Vault personal health record service will be offered to Kaiser's 8.7 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia.
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Both Microsoft and Google have previously announced collaborative pilot projects with other health providers. For Microsoft, they include the Mayo Clinic and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. For Google, they include the Cleveland Clinic and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
But the Kaiser move, analysts say, is significant given the California-based health company's size and its reputation as an innovative user of information technology.
Read the rest here.