Back in March 2011, there were rumors circulating that Google planned to do away with Google Health, its Microsoft HealthVault competitor. And on June 24, Google admitted that the rumors were right.
In a post to the Official Google Blog, Google officials conceded that they are “retiring” Google Health as of January 1, 2012, with data stored in its medical-record system available for download through January 1, 2013.
Google characterized Google Health (and another product it is retiring, Google PowerMeter), as “two products that didn’t catch on the way we would have hoped.”
More from Google’s post:
“Now, with a few years of experience, we’ve observed that Google Health is not having the broad impact that we hoped it would. There has been adoption among certain groups of users like tech-savvy patients and their caregivers, and more recently fitness and wellness enthusiasts. But we haven’t found a way to translate that limited usage into widespread adoption in the daily health routines of millions of people. That’s why we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue the Google Health service.”
Data not removed from Google Health by January 1, 2013, will be permanently deleted, Google officials said. Google is advising those who stored information in its medical-records service to either print and save their data or transfer it to other services using PDF, CCR (Continuity of Care Record, an XML format), Comma-separated value (CSV) files, ZIP archiving, or other means.
Microsoft is continuing to invest in its cloud-based electronic-medical-record offering, known as HealthVault, which it launched in 2009. It also is holding onto its various health-focused software investments, including its Amalga integration and analysis products. Earlier this year, Microsoft moved its Health Solutions business unit into the same unit as its Dynamics CRM and Dynamics ERP products. The Health unit has its own sales force and partner channel (at least for the time being).
(Thanks to @inafried for the heads up on the Google post today.)
