HealthVault for Europe? Not just yet

One of Microsoft’s senior managers for healthcare has told E-Health Europe that the company would like to bring a version of its new HealthVault personal health record (PHR) to Europe – though it has no immediate plans to do so.

The US software giant launched its HealthVault personal health record in the US on 9 October, which allows users to store and share their health records using a free online service.

Speaking to EHE at the World of Health IT conference in Vienna, Microsoft’s senior healthcare executive in Europe the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Elizabeth Bielby, said: “HealthVault is a US launch only, but to bring it outside the US is something we absolutely want to do. However, we want to make sure that we comply with data protection and security requirements.”

“We feel very strongly that HealthVault is a citizen-centred record and it is up to the citizen to decide who has access to that data.”

Microsoft’s EMEA health boss made clear that HealthVault had been designed specifically for the US market and Europe had different requirements on data protection.

“We have no PHR plans for Europe currently,” said Bielby. She stressed, however, that the company remained “extremely interested” in working with potential European partners to work on other Health 2.0 style applications, such as using social networking tools and to place more control and information to individuals over their healthcare.

“We have an over-arching commitment to help ensure people can live better, longer and healthier lives. The way we encapsulate that is with the concept of knowledge driven health.