Google Health unveils EHR data aggregation tool for clinicians

Google Health is working on a new EHR-like tool capable of pulling data from various clinical systems into a unified interface. The as-yet-unnamed product provides a single login through which doctors can access a unified view of data that would normally spread across different systems. This includes vitals, labs, medications and notes, as well as scanned documents and faxes. Rather than a fully-fledged EPR system – which Google representatives have previously suggested the company is not interested in – the demo hints towards an interoperable aggregation platform that sits on top of the clinical desktop. Doctors can search for keywords and use clinical shorthand to find results. For example, searching “abx” would return mentions of antibiotics in the results, including any medications administered. The system also uses “a variety of Google technologies” such as those lifted from its autocomplete and autocorrect functionalities so that misspelled terms that are not identical matches to the searched-for term show up in results. Clicking on any value will begin a deeper exploration showing recent and historical trends in graphs and tables, explained Alvin Rajkomar, Google product manager and practicing clinician, in a video demo.