User Stories
Take a look at the Google Health users who have shared their stories for how they are taking charge of their health information today.
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Google Health Users Speak
How she uses Google Health As a single mother of a 13 year old daughter and a registered nurse, Linda Macomber started using Google Health over a year ago when it first launched in May of 2008. She has set up 5 profiles on Google Health, one for herself, one for her daughter, one for each of her parents who live across the country, and and one for a friend who is struggling with a chronic illness.
"What happened to me is that I changed jobs, and that required me to change my health insurance and then change all my doctors. By having all my information on Google Health, it's a lot easier for me to share it with my new physician, " says Macomber, who lives in San Diego, CA.
How its helping... Linda oversees care for her 13 year old daughter and manages care for her father who lives in another state...."My dad lives in the Midwest and I live in California, so one way I can help if I were to get a phone call in case of an emergency is to have access to his information, including his medications. For me its feels more secure to have that all stored in one place on the web so we have access to it whenever we needed it."
She also uses Google Health to track her daughter's immunization records.
"My daughter goes to summer camp every year and I always get asked to fill out
camp forms and to document that she has had all the appropriate shots. I can
never find that information easily, but now that I have it stored in Google
Health, my daughter can actually locate it easily with my help."
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What I like about Google Health is that you have instant access to your health information so you do not have to rummage through your bathroom cabinet to patch together a list of your current prescriptions. It's all stored in one central place and available securely on the web."
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How she uses Google Health A gynecologist who has been in private practice for over 20 years, Dr.
Taylor uses Google Health to send lab results to her patients securely via a
partnership Google has with Quest
Diagnostics. Dr. Taylor has over 60% of her patients using Google Health. She has even set up a laptop in her waiting room and encourages her patients to sign up for Google Health to get their lab results online.
"With Google Health, patients can get their lab results really quickly, they do not have to wait for a month to get a paper copy in the mail. They can review the lab result and they have a little note from me and they know I have tried to do something to help them. It's very proactive, it allows them to take greater control over their health."
Google Health also helps her patients who travel for their jobs or who have to leave the delivery area, "They can take their medical record with them when they are encountering a new doctor. Can you imagine how empowering that is...it's much more forthcoming, the person is engaged, they brought their own labs, they know what they are, and they can move ahead on the issues." As a solo practitioner with a few office staff, Dr. Tayor needs to have
maximum efficiency to run her office. Using the Quest Diagnostics and Google Health connection, it allows her to push her patient's lab results securely to their Google Health Account once she has reviewed them.
"If you need to tell someone about their test results, you often have to send them a letter and usually they experience that as a pretty cold event. Receiving a lab result inside Google Health is an improvement in that it's a personal experience for the patient. Using these types of online tools lets me get alot more work done in a shorter amount of time." |