Microsoft HealthVault
Encyclopedia
Microsoft HealthVault is a web-based platform from Microsoft
to store and maintain health and fitness information. Started in October 2007, the website is accessible at www.healthvault.com and addresses both individuals and healthcare professionals. In June 2010, Microsoft HealthVault was launched in the UK, the website is accessible at www.healthvault.co.uk
, Facebook
or a limited set of OpenID
providers.
wifi bodyscale) into an individual's HealthVault record. It can also be used to find and download drivers for medical devices.
and the Continuity of Care Record
. Support for industry standards makes it possible to integrate with many personal health record
solutions.
, Dossia
and World Medical Card
. Google announced in June 2011 that the Google Health will be discontinued as of January 1st, 2012, and has encouraged users to either download their data or to directly transfer it to Microsoft's HealthVault service before January 1st, 2013.
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
to store and maintain health and fitness information. Started in October 2007, the website is accessible at www.healthvault.com and addresses both individuals and healthcare professionals. In June 2010, Microsoft HealthVault was launched in the UK, the website is accessible at www.healthvault.co.uk
Components
A HealthVault record stores an individual's health information. Access to a record is through a HealthVault account, which may be authorized to access records for multiple individuals, so that a mother may manage records for each of her children or a son may have access to his father's record to help the father deal with medical issues. Authorisation of the account can be through Windows Live IDWindows Live ID
Windows Live ID is a single sign-on web service developed and provided by Microsoft that allows users to log in to many websites using one account...
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
or a limited set of OpenID
OpenID
OpenID is an open standard that describes how users can be authenticated in a decentralized manner, eliminating the need for services to provide their own ad hoc systems and allowing users to consolidate their digital identities...
providers.
Authorization
An individual interacts with their HealthVault record through the HealthVault site, or, more typically, through an application that talks to the HealthVault platform. When an individual first uses a HealthVault application, they are asked to authorize the application to access a specific set of data types, and those data types are the only ones the application can use. An individual can also share a part (some data types) or the whole of their health record with another interested individual such as a doctor, a spouse, a parent, etc.Devices
HealthVault Connection Center allows health and fitness data to be transferred from devices (such as heart rate watches, blood pressure monitors and the WithingsWithings
Withings is a consumer electronics company located in Issy les Moulineaux, France. It was founded in June 2008 near Paris by three executives from the technology and telecom industry: Eric Carreel, co-founder of Inventel, and Sculpteo, Frédéric Potter, co-founder of Cirpack , and Cédric Hutchings...
wifi bodyscale) into an individual's HealthVault record. It can also be used to find and download drivers for medical devices.
Interoperability
HealthVault supports a number of exchange formats including industry standards such as the Continuity of Care DocumentContinuity of Care Document
The Continuity of Care Document specification is an XML-based markup standard intended to specify the encoding, structure and semantics of a patient summary clinical document for exchange....
and the Continuity of Care Record
Continuity of Care Record
Continuity of Care Record is a health record standard specification developed jointly by ASTM International, the Massachusetts Medical Society , the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society , the American Academy of Family Physicians , the American Academy of Pediatrics , and other...
. Support for industry standards makes it possible to integrate with many personal health record
Personal health record
A personal health record or PHR is a health record where health data is curated by an individual user themselves. This stands in contrast with the more widely used electronic medical record which is held by institutions such as a hospital and contains data entered by clinicians or billing data in...
solutions.
Competitors
HealthVault's primary competitors are Google HealthGoogle Health
Google Health is a personal health information centralization service by Google introduced in 2008 and announced for withdrawal in 2011...
, Dossia
Dossia
Dossia is a Personal health record service offered by some of the largest employers in the United States. Along with Microsoft's HealthVault and Google's Google Health, Dossia is one of the largest PHR deployments in the world....
and World Medical Card
World Medical Card
World Medical Card is product and registered trademark belonging to World Medical Center a Norwegian Company, headquartered in Bergen, Norway. The company's business is Health Information Technology, more specifically a supplier of Personal health records....
. Google announced in June 2011 that the Google Health will be discontinued as of January 1st, 2012, and has encouraged users to either download their data or to directly transfer it to Microsoft's HealthVault service before January 1st, 2013.
HealthVault Web Applications
A comprehensive list of web applications is available at the HealthVault website. Some of the notable ones are listed below.- ActivePHR. This is released by ActiveHealth
- HealthUnity PHR Gateway. This is released by HealthUnityHealthUnityHealthUnity Corporation is an American software company serving the health information exchange market. They provide software products and services for various types of HIE deployments...
- PassportMD. This is released by PassportMD