Opening the vault: Microsoft recently joined the growing Personal Health Records field. Will insurers see that as competition to their own efforts, or the start of a beautiful friendship?(Health/Employee Benefits: Personal Health Records)

Best's Review, December, 2007 by Chordas, Lori

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The playing field for storing and exchanging personal health information has grown even larger.

In October, software giant Microsoft announced its new HealthVault Web site, designed as a digital warehouse where consumers can store their health-related data and share it with physicians and other health-care professionals.

But health plans don't see Microsoft's site as competing with what they're doing with personal health records. Rather, since it's a platform where records can reside, many insurers see it as a complement to the strides they're making toward getting members to take responsibility for their own health records.

Not only that, but many believe Microsoft can be instrumental in finding "innovative...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.