Microsoft Unlocks HealthVault

When it comes to personal information, even financial details come in second to healthcare. Someone might leave an ATM receipt on a desk where others could see it, but almost no one will keep a copy of a blood test or an exam in the open.

People have serious privacy concerns about health information. The need to have access to it could be critical in a life-threatening situation. Receiving an emergency treatment that poses even more of a health risk doesn’t need to happen, but without a way to know this, it could happen.

The company that finds a way to balance the recording of intimate medical details with controlled availability could be the one that provides a truly life-altering service. We’ve all suspected Google would do this with its in-development Health product, or possibly an out-of-nowhere startup that blows away the field.

Microsoft takes the big shot with its HealthVault debut. HealthVault combines health-topic search, a secure site for collecting and sharing health information, and technical support for connecting health-monitoring devices like blood pressure and glucose monitors to HealthVault via a PC.

A search for a topic like diabetes returns results from the Live Search health vertical. Visitors have the option to refine the results by suggested topics under categories like Conditions or Procedures, and to save searches to their secure scrapbook.

Articles from sources like the Mayo Clinic or the federally-backed MedlinePlus under these, alongside web search results from the health vertical.

The real aim of health information efforts like HealthVault and every other entrant in the field is to ultimately tap into the lucrative healthcare market. HealthVault shows a column of Sponsored Results, with prominent links to sponsor services, products on Amazon.com, and a series of paid search results for the topic.

HealthVault requires a Microsoft Live ID to sign in, followed by the collection of name, email address, zip code, and date of birth. That is followed by a request from HealthVault to the person to authorize access requirements when signed in and out of the service.

Microsoft also sends a confirmation email to the address of record to ensure it is valid. Once confirmed, the visitor arrives at their health record page. Documents can be added and sharing of information enabled through this section of HealthVault.

If someone opts to save a search to the scrapbook, a screen appears, resembling any one of a number of bookmarking services. It prompts the user for a title, description, and optional tags for the search before storing it.

Once added, this information persists in a Your Scrapbook module appearing on HealthVault pages while signed on to the service. Links and tags for saved searches may be navigated from the module. Details can be added and exported to and from the profiles as desired.

Microsoft has advertised HealthVault as a free service. As one of the most prominent brands in technology, there is a comfort factor in dealing with them that someone may not feel for a less well-known firm.

For once, that poses a problem for Google, which seems to be bogged down with its Health project. We noted Adam Bosworth leaving Google Health for good earlier this month. Marissa Mayer is leading Google Health on an interim basis.

Microsoft has a head start over its rival, and casts a substantial shadow over useful sites like Kosmix and TauMed. The sensitivity of health information could make for a slow start for HealthVault.

We think Microsoft could position itself to overcome early inertia, thanks to its standing in the business industry. CEO Steve Ballmer and other Microsoft executives have access to like-minded, powerful people in other industries, and we have to presume healthcare is one of them.

If Microsoft could secure a promotional agreement with a major insurer to tout HealthVault, this early start could become a big lead in short order. Such a tie-in would be formidable. We won’t be surprised if one emerges soon.

Healthcare is different from other practices in PR. You have the whole direct-to-consumer guidelines from the FDA, and then you have a ton of other issues in dealing with the press and social media.

But, it’s beyond that. When you are working in social media, you are entering a community. Too many PR people don’t get that – they view social media – or just blogs – as another media venue, that can be pitched. Just today, I was sent a press release from a firm in Los Angeles – no pitch letter, no garnering my interest on the subject, just the press release. And, that does not work.

When explaining social media, I use a Town Hall analogy. From a conversation with a friend, she wrote it out like this: Imagine a small New England town with a highly civically-active community. On a regular basis this tightly-knit community hosts Town Hall meetings to discuss current events, areas of concern, etc. Now imagine someone wholly unconnected to community coming in, raising a topic of concern and just leavinMe and AmyMe and Amyg. Town Hall meeting members have every reason to be annoyed, incensed and even hostile.

Now take that Town Hall scenario, multiply it exponentially, and stick it online – where anyone and everyone can see it. The quaint little Town Hall is now a blog. And the outside, rude intruders are PR people – those that neither seem to care or understand the community, but are just following orders to get "ink" no matter what.

For healthcare, take that Town Hall scenario, and put it in the hospital ward. With some health blogs, you are either talking to the patient, or the patient’s relative.

Now, unless you have ever been sick, you cannot truly empathize with that scenario. So, imagine some asshat barging into your hospital room to talk to you about new medicines, or a new treatment. That’s the PR person trying to pitch you on something – or just imagine them not even saying hello, but just dropping off a press kit / press release. That, essentially, happened to me today.

Okay, going to take it personal here – something, I rarely do on the blog. I was a relatively sick kid – surgery at 9, surgery at 21, surgery at 21. So, when I hear PR people saying "let’s pitch this community or that community," I want to scream. Just because you do outreach for one type of client within a healthcare community does not give you carte blanch to reach out to the group for another client. These are relationships that you have built, but you are a guest in that community. To treat it otherwise is being exploitive.

Here’s a perfect example: because of my surgery at 21, I have side effects that occur once a year. I take some pills for one week, and it is over. But, I do check Google Blog Search and Technorati (when it works ) and look to see if there are any advances or new medicines on the horizon. Last time I did this, I found a 25 year old guy in Los Angeles that was going to have the same surgery as I did at 21. I wrote to him, told him how the surgery went for me, and we have been in email correspondence since then.

Yes, I became a part of a community. Am I going to pitch him some product now, because I have built a relationship there? Not at all – it’s tacky, it’s exploitive, it’s just wrong.

Put yourself in his shoes – or any other healthcare blogger that is a patient. You have to be smart in reaching out to any blogger, but hypersensitive in reaching out to healthcare bloggers. Pitch things that are relevant – new medicines (yes, that can work), new procedures or needles, new fundraising efforts – but don’t pitch vertical products that can be view as just, well, insulting.

For the podcast, and to see what else was discussed, check it out here.

Exenatide, an injectable drug derived from lizard saliva will be sold with the name Byetta as a supplemental therapy for patients whose blood sugar hasn’t been adequately controlled.

Intended to be used only concurrently with other diabetes drugs, Byetta was conditionally approved by the FDA for lone usage, as further testing is required.

Exenatide is a synthetic version of Gila monster saliva which is included in a new class of drugs called incretin mimetics. The new drug imitates hormones that respond to food, helping to regulate glucose levels.