BoomTown » Google Health

Keas's Adam Bosworth Speaks About New Health Care Start-Up!

Kara Swisher — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:05:09 +0000

The former head of Google Health, Adam Bosworth, officially unveiled his much anticipated health-care start-up today at the Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco, showing off a site that will offer step-by-step and personalized “care plans,” as well as many kinds of online tools to better understand the data and tips on how to stay healthy.

Before he did so, BoomTown did a video interview with Bosworth this morning about Keas, which he founded with George Kassabgi.

As it turns out, Google Health is, in fact, one of Keas’s partners at launch, along with Microsoft HealthVault, Quest Diagnostics, Healthwise, DiabetesMine and Dr. Greene Pediatrics.

Bosworth said he hopes to attract many others to make innovative plans, much as developers make apps for smart phones.

It’s perfect timing, given the health-care debate now raging in Washington, which is about how people make health-care decisions–or, more precisely, how they usually do not.

Bosworth left the search giant in the fall of 2007 because he wanted to create a nimble and easy-to-use site to enable better engagement by consumers in their health care, especially around diet, exercise and how people manage long-term conditions, such as diabetes.

But, while a lot of people use the Web to get health information, they–as well as doctors–have been warier about using Internet tools to help them manage and understand their health.

Microsoft (MSFT), where Bosworth also worked for many years, released a health information management tool last week too, called My Health Info, although Keas is clearly much more robust and authoritative.

But Bosworth said the more, the healthier.

He also pointed out that he is working with Microsoft too, as well as Google (GOOG), given that the pair have the power to get big amounts of information about health care online.

Now, he added, sites like Keas will be key to allowing consumers to manage and interpret that mass of often confusing data.

Keas, which is backed by Atlas Ventures and Ignition Partners and has 25 staffers, is allowing free use of its care plans now, but will eventually charge for use of certain features.

Here’s the interview I did with Bosworth about all this and more, including the origin of the site’s unusual name:

[ See post to watch video ]

MSN Debuts Online Health Service

Kara Swisher — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:20:35 +0000

MSN, Microsoft’s online portal, released a beta version of a service to let users manage their health information on the Web.

Called My Health Info, the Microsoft (MSFT) offering, which includes a range of widgets and other Web tools, wades into an area that many are attempting to crack, including Google (GOOG).

The service, which will be located on MSN’s health site, will use Microsoft’s HealthVault platform and Silverlight technology, taking the company’s effort to create a platform for storage of health information into the mainstream.

Due to issues of privacy and security, consumers have been slow to warm to loading up their personal health information on the Web.

Microsoft said users can also “research medical concerns, read the latest health news, gain guidance from medical experts, learn about nutrition, and monitor conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes.”

Google has a similar beta product called Google Health, and there are others. In fact, the former head of Google Health, Adam Bosworth, has a similar start-up called Keas.

All efforts are trying to get consumers to embrace and feel comfortable in putting their health information online and offer easier tools to do that.

Here’s a screen shot of My Health Info:

Here’s the Microsoft press release on the service:

MSN Introduces Online Tools to Help People Make Smarter Health and Lifestyle Decisions

From swine flu info to symptom checkers, MSN My Health Info includes a broad range of widgets and tools to attract health-minded consumers.

REDMOND, Wash.–Oct. 1, 2009–Today, MSN released the beta of My Health Info, a new online service that helps people manage their health information on the Web. My Health Info is a unique service that offers people a variety of tools and widgets to upload, organize and monitor health information stored in their personal Microsoft HealthVault accounts. The new service allows people to research medical concerns, read the latest health news, gain guidance from medical experts, learn about nutrition, and monitor conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
In addition, MSN is launching a specialized swine flu information center today on the MSN Health & Fitness home page (http://health.msn.com), spotlighting the virus that is currently top of mind for people. MSN works with trusted consumer health information providers such as Harvard Medical School and the MayoClinic.com to keep people informed and armed with data to help them prevent contracting the virus, assess for risk factors, find out where to get vaccinations in their local neighborhood when they become available, and more.

My Health Info delivers features designed for busy parents, adults who are managing the health concerns of aging parents, and people managing chronic conditions and multiple medications. Because the data is stored in Microsoft HealthVault, people can access their information via the Web whenever they need it and share it across multiple connected health applications. My Health Info will allow consumers to do the following:

Customize their page with tools such as allergy, medicine and blood pressure trackers, a lab results bank, body mass index calculators, vaccination information and more

Use information from personal health devices such as heart-rate monitors and pedometers

Access profiles of multiple family members at one time, allowing caregivers to more easily manage not only their information, but their family’s as well

Stay informed by receiving the latest in health news from sources they trust

“People care deeply about credible, timely and comprehensive information about health topics. MSN My Health Info will provide an exceptional selection of resources, tools and information available from a variety of sources in one convenient location,” said Scott Moore, U.S. executive producer, MSN. “We are committed to delighting our customers with information, services and tools that keep them informed and simplify their lives.”

Consumers are increasingly looking for online solutions that help them take better control of their health decisions and their families’ information, and that connect them to the broader health ecosystem in which they interact. The My Health Info service enables MSN to offer a timely service to its users, which will be continually updated to help ensure that consumers are offered relevant tools. The service is connected with Microsoft HealthVault, which stores consumer health information in a controlled and privacy-enhanced environment, while enabling consumers to easily collect and transfer their data across the health system for a more holistic and better quality healthcare experience. The My Health Info site is powered by Microsoft Silverlight technology to deliver a rich, interactive Web experience.

“As consumers are increasingly being asked to manage more of their health and wellness, they are looking for solutions that help them navigate an overwhelming amount of information, enabling them to take control of their personal health data,” said David Cerino, general manager of consumer health in Microsoft Health Solutions Group. “Building on the power of HealthVault, My Health Info demonstrates how we are continuing to provide consumers with the trusted and relevant tools they need to make more informed decisions in support of their health and the health of their families.”

BoomTown Talks to a Puppet

Kara Swisher — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:21:04 +0000

The ubiquitous puppet interviewer (not) Shel Israel–who BoomTown has definitively determined is powered by the hand of the very funny Loren Feldman of 1938 Media–came to ATD HQ (aka, the cottage behind my house) yesterday for a lovely chat.

In our interview, I revealed that I was indeed the actress who played Princess Leia Organa Solo of Alderaan in “Star Wars” and also, given that the California Supreme Court has recently approved gay marriages, my upcoming nuptials with a certain tech blogger I have written about.

In all seriousness, I really like Feldman’s video work, although it is definitely strongly rendered.

Why? Because it is just the kind of innovative original material that is a key part of creating a whole new genre online.

His use of puppets is clever, but he also does more thoughtful, though still humorous, video essays as himself, which I also think are unique and bracing (that is a polite way of saying he does not hold back much).

Here’s my interview, along with another Israel puppet report on the MicroYooHoo deal and then another of Feldman’s on Google Health’s debut below it:

Kara and Shel

Shel on MicroYooHoo

Feldman on Google Health