March 2008
Today's healthcare system is defined by both great achievement and great challenges. Breakthroughs in medical research and practice are improving and saving people's lives. At the same time, people's health information is decentralized and isolated, existing only in filing cabinets and on a multitude of disconnected servers. It is difficult for individuals and their families to manage and share health information productively, or to navigate online and offline health resources efficiently and accurately.
Technology can play a key role in helping solve the problem of healthcare fragmentation. To this end, Microsoft Corp. has developed a technology platform called Microsoft HealthVault, a storage and sharing system that uses privacy-enhanced and security-enhanced measures, and through which people can interact with health-related services and devices. HealthVault brings the health and technology industries together to place people in control of their healthcare, while enabling seamless exchange of information among hundreds of health services and devices.
Microsoft HealthVault allows people to collect their health information from many sources, store it in one place, and share it with whomever they choose. The HealthVault platform is designed to greatly reduce unnecessary confusion, paperwork, and delays.
People can use HealthVault to access and put to practical use a variety of health services and devices that monitor everything from weight loss and exercise to blood sugar and blood pressure. With the support of solution providers that develop these services and devices, Microsoft has committed to a platform that is of no cost to consumers, inclusive of industry standards, and provides robust privacy and security features.
Microsoft has also developed Live Search Health, a Web search service that can be used with the storage capabilities of the HealthVault platform. Live Search Health helps people discover answers to their health questions, learn more about topics important to them, confidentially store the information they discover, and act on that knowledge to improve their health and wellness. Furthermore, Live Search Health intuitively organizes the most relevant online health results, allowing people to refine searches more efficiently and with more accuracy.
Personal health information is some of the most sensitive data in people's lives. Assuring that confidential records are secured against unauthorized access, theft, loss, or damage is crucial to earning and maintaining patients' confidence in the healthcare system and increasing their adoption of health information technology, making them more likely to seek treatment and, in turn, live healthier lives.
The HealthVault platform is underpinned by the following clear, strong health privacy commitments:
Because system security helps reinforce privacy, the HealthVault platform's security measures are designed to fortify our privacy promises and help guard people's health information in the following ways:
Consumers can store and control an array of health information in their Microsoft HealthVault records, including prescription medication lists, health histories, hospital discharge summaries, lab results, fitness data, and Live Search Health results. Microsoft HealthVault Connection Center allows people to upload health-related data to their HealthVault record, such as that taken from blood-pressure cuffs, heart rate monitors, blood glucose monitors, and peak flow meters for measuring lung capacity, as well as from other digital devices and services. The technology is straightforward and makes it easy to confidently share health information with family, caregivers, or physicians. Simple information sharing among patients, physicians, and organizations can help promote greater efficiency and better-informed care.
Live Search Health helps people supplement their own information with relevant, informative content from a broad spectrum of Web-based resources. Through a consumer-friendly dashboard, people can rapidly refine their searches and easily explore complex health and fitness questions to find the results they want, rather than having to read through pages and pages of results. Live Search Health also provides access to an extensive collection of health-oriented and fitness-oriented articles, along with links to relevant products and services offered on consumer Web sites such as Amazon.com. Helpful search results can be compiled in a HealthVault scrapbook, which is bolstered by the HealthVault platform's privacy features.
The Live Search Health engine has been designed so that information that could easily identify a person, such as e-mail address, name, address, or phone number, is separated from search queries at the outset and encrypted. All Live Search Health traffic is encrypted. Search queries are associated with a computer's Internet protocol address, but this information is encrypted and queries are deleted from Microsoft's server logs after 90 days. In addition, marketing on Live Search Health pages is not personalized based on search history or the contents of a HealthVault record.
The Microsoft HealthVault platform and Live Search Health are offered free of charge for consumers in the United States. Access to the platform, Search service, and solution provider services and devices is available at http://www.healthvault.com.
