A recent blog post by Dave deBronkart, better known on the internet as "ePatientDave," has lit a fire under Google Health (he calls it an "uproar"): Seems the data the Google Health repository pulls from a patient's health records can be "grossly inaccurate." Dave's new Google Health account informed him that his cancer had spread to either his brain or his spine and it also listed a myriad of new conditions and issues his doctors had never mentioned. Seems Google Health has more problems than its "crumpled up paper print out" mobile PHR strategy. 

The Boston Globe and numerous tech blogs have picked up deBronkart's Google Health post, which partially concludes that the errors stem from Google's practice of pulling some information from the patient's billing records and insurance data, which is in many cases one of the few already computerized portions of health records today. As the Globe, reports, however, insurance data is often riddled with inaccuracies both because of cumbersome diagnostic coding and billing language and because doctors often code for tests with a disease or condition they are simply trying to rule out. That may be one reason, for example, cancer was found to spread when in fact the bill could have been just for a test to determine whether it had spread.

"Claims data is notoriously inaccurate and notoriously incomplete with respect to an expression of the problems a person has," Dr. David Kibbe, a senior technology adviser to the American Academy of Family Physicians, told the Globe.

Google Health product manager Dr. Roni Zeiger explained that Google collects information from a number of partners, including hospitals, pharmacies, and labs, which includes claims data. Billing information can sometimes be imprecise, Zeiger told the Globe, but the overall benefit of having some information is better than none, he argued. Accuracy will improve over time, Zeiger promised.

Lists of allergies, medications and recent lab reports can save lives, he told the Globe. 

So, should Google Health just stick to allergies, meds and recent lab reports for now then? Is it ready to be a full PHR? Clearly Google has a lot of work to do before it turns its attention to its mobile strategy. Yet another reason for that "Beta" caveat on the logo.