At issue, of course, is how Google and HealthGrades will determine which practitioners and facilities show up on the top 10 list for a particular search. Dr. Collier and Mr. Wiseman said that initially the order of rank will be based on Google's standard model, which lists the most trafficked sites highest. The rankings would not be based on the HealthGrades scores.
That seems somewhat contradictory to the company's stated mission of trying to steer patients to the doctors and hospitals with the best quality ratings, not simply the ones with the most Web hits. Mr. Wiseman said that at some point the model might change to one in which the listings were based on HealthGrades scores, but he would not comment further.
From a physician's perspective, it is difficult to say which mode of determining the listings would be preferable. On one hand, Web site traffic has little clinical relevance, and all but rules out doctors who do not have Web sites. On the other hand, rankings based on HealthGrades scores would only be as fair and reasonable as the scores themselves.
Google Health and HealthVault are putting online patient health records to the test. ©2008 Microsoft Corporation/Google Health