Google to shut down PHR platform for lack of interest

Just three years after it launched its personal health record platform, technology giant Google conceded that not even a big name like itself could spark interest in a market that has, so far, remained off the radar of most consumers.

Google said June 24 that its PHR platform, Google Health, will shut down on Jan. 1, 2012. The company said it reached the decision after realizing it was "not having the broad impact that we hoped it would."

It's unknown how many accounts were opened on Google Health. But experts say the announcement probably will have little impact on the overall market, simply because so few used Google's PHR.

"If they all [PHRs] went away, that would be a problem," said Erica Drazen, managing partner of the Global Institute for Emerging Healthcare Technologies at CSC.

Several studies, including one released in June from IDC Health Insights, have shown that only about 7% of the public have used a PHR. Drazen said in the PHR market, Google was lagging behind competitors such as Microsoft HealthVault and WebMD. "I don't think it will mean much" that Google Health is shutting down, she said.

Google is allowing those who have information stored in Google Health to transfer their account information and data to another platform. They will have until 2013 to do so. Microsoft is reportedly working with Google to help make the transfer of data from Google Health to HealthVault as easy as possible for consumers.

NoMoreClipBoards, another PHR platform that worked with Google Health, issued a statement after Google's announcement, saying that with meaningful use standards calling for better communication between physicians and patients, PHRs are poised for growth. The company expects to more than quadruple its revenues and add several thousand new users this year.

Drazen said the key for a PHR's success will be the ability to import data from health care organizations and health plans while allowing consumers to add information themselves. No platform that she is aware of offers that capability, but that is likely to change as more physicians adopt electronic medical records and participate in health information exchanges.

Aaron Brown, senior product manager of Google Health, said in a June 24 blog post that although the company wasn't able to create the impact it wanted, "We hope it has raised the visibility of the role of the empowered consumer in their own care."