G-Health = G-Privacy?

The Cleveland Clinic announced today that it's part of a test site for a new Google initiative to store and share medical records. I spoke with the chief information officer at Cleveland Clinic and he says the hospital already has its own software for patients, but the Google project expands it and makes it even more convenient for people. The idea being that doctors can check a patient's records on a computer with the patient present, and obviously so that a patient could remotely access everything from lab results to prescription details from home. But privacy advocates wasted no time in voicing their concern over how any data from users would be handled. Their biggest fears: sensitive or confidential medical records could fall into the hands of marketers or insurance companies.

Storing medical records online isn't a new idea. It's been tried in various formats since the 1980s, and major companies like Microsoft are also trying different ways to make it accessible without compromising safety and security. On the one hand it'd sure be great to log into your personal medical site and get a sense for where things stand in your personal history. Who knows -- it might also cut down on paperwork. But if any information you added to your individual profile meant you could be denied a health care claim or suffered from an influx of ads it wouldn't be so catchy. How would federal privacy laws cover it? Debate abounds.

Up to 10,000 Cleveland Clinic patients are involved in this initial phase, and it could be rolled out on a larger scale in the coming months. Right now it's not publicly available. For more, you can click here. (Incidentally, for the record Google did not respond to a request for comment today from CBS News.) More tomorrow, including some thoughts on the idea from our own Dr. Jon LaPook.