Despite the increasing number of specialized engines active in the healthcare market place, Google remains the dominant force, writes Jane Sarason Kahn in a commentary for the California Healthcare Foundation. The vast majority of people using the Internet for healthcare information rely on Google, not on alternatives, she notes. That is as true of medical professionals as it is of the general public. The best sign of Google's effectiveness as a search tool for reliable and up to date medical information is the fact that an increasing number of doctors are using the search engine as a clinical decision support tool by typing in symptoms and pulling back a quick (and often surprisingly accurate) diagnosis. Not everybody is sold on the idea, but a lot of doctors are experimenting with the technique.
So is Google weighing an entry into the healthcare content space? We may have to wait a little while to find out. Given the company's dominant position right now, it has the luxury of playing a waiting game.
- see this article from iHealthBeat