Microsoft Unveils New Site
For Storing Health Records

By ROBERT A. GUTH

Wall Street Journal
October 4, 2007 11:49 a.m.

Microsoft Corp.'s quest to be player in health-care information services is taking a step forward on the Web.

A new Microsoft Web site announced Thursday, called HealthVault, includes a secure way to upload data such as blood-pressure readings so consumers can keep record of their health information. The "personal health center," as Microsoft calls it, is designed to allow consumers to share such information with physicians and other medical professionals. The site also offers Internet search and a Web page for viewing and organizing articles and other information on health.

HealthVault is the latest step in a two-year effort by Microsoft to build software and services in the health field, targeting both consumers and health-care organizations. The company has quietly built a group of programmers and professionals with related expertise, and purchased several companies to help speed its move into healthcare.

The effort is the latest by high-technology companies that hope to help restructure an industry that still depends largely on paper records. Google Inc. says it has a team working on an online health service and AOL co-founder Steve Case is backing a site for finding health information called Revolution Health Group LLC. Chip maker Intel Corp. also is developing technology aimed at doctors, nurses and patients.

Microsoft, which plans to open a test version of the service Thursday, is hoping to entice members of the health-care industry to build Web services and devices that can work with its HealthVault site. Today the company is expected to announce that it has signed up over 40 organizations--including the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and New York Presbyterian Hospital--to build services that for consumers to upload and store health data.

Others are working on medical devices such as blood-pressure readers that can be used to upload data to HealthVault through a personal computer, Microsoft executives said. Those companies include LifeScan Inc. and Omron Healthcare Inc.

One challenge will be winning trust among consumers who may be reluctant to share medical records with the company. Microsoft executives said the information will be electronically protected and not shared with others without permission from consumers. A company executive said the company has been working with two different outside "hacker" organizations to test the security of the site.

Beyond consumers, Microsoft's biggest obstacle may be physicians and other medical professionals, some of whom have been slow to change established practices or to embrace new technology offerings such as HealthVault.

Write to Robert A. Guth at rob.guth@wsj.com