It appears I was right about Google entering the Healthcare industry (I’m always right!). In my previous post I linked to an entry in the Google blog where one of Google’s VPs was reporting on being at a major Healthcare conference. Being in the Healthcare industry myself (I program Healthcare EDI), I know for a fact you don’t just go to these conferences unless you have some vested interest in Healthcare. So I thought, “What?” when I saw them reporting on a talk they gave at a recent conference. Then, this was written today:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/is-there-doctor-in-family.html

It appears my theory has been confirmed. No real specifics yet, but my guess based on the post and their previous talk is that they’re going to start with technologies making Health Care information more accessible. I can also see them attacking the Health Histories market, as there is definitely a need there. However, I would not put it past them to attack the EDI services market (how your money gets between your Doctor and your Insurance company) as well - they have a lot of strengths in this, and reconciliation and rerouting of such data, a task Clearinghouses spend years building their model around is not an easy task to partake. A good search and matching engine is needed - hmmm…I wonder who has one of those?

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/health/Google_to_Enter_Health_Care_Services’;