Google Says 'Stay Tuned' For Google Health

Google sees three heath care areas on which it can most effectively focus its resources: improving health-related search results, linking information on doctors and other health providers into Google Local directory and mapping service, and helping patients and health-care providers electronically archive records and other data now kept in disconnected, offline systems.

The impetus for the digitization service came from Intel cofounder Andy Grove, who approached Google on the eve of Hurricane Katrina to ask if the company could do anything to preserve the vast troves of paper medical records trapped in hospital basements and storage facilities and about to be wiped out by the oncoming storm.

"In that moment, it was too late for us to mobilize and make anything happen there," Mayer said. "But it did get us thinking about what we could do and what some of the advantages would be."

Those advantages won't be right around the corner. Mayer had no Google Health screen shots to show off or concrete details to discuss about what the service will deliver. "You'll be seeing a lot more activity in the months to come, so stay tuned," she said.

But while Google maps out Google Health, Microsoft is already up and running with its own health information platform, HealthVault, which launched earlier this month. HealthVault draws on Microsoft's search technology to tailor health-care searches and on the company's storage infrastructure to archive patient records, two of the areas in which Mayer said Google plans to compete.

Mayer did come prepared, though, with a "top 10" list of product features Google Health has already crossed off its brainstorming list. Punsters will be disappointed to hear that the service won't feature an "I'm Feeling Yucky" button, and those overwhelmed by Viagra spam may rue Google's decision not to use its contextual ad-targeting superpowers to deliver Viagra spam only to Gmail users that actually need it.