Google is testing a new search feature that allows users to video call a doctor directly from search results for illnesses or symptoms.



The search results prompt users to “talk with a doctor now”, which will initiate a free video call similar to Google’s Helpouts support service but with a doctor to talk through symptoms for a remote diagnosis or advice.

The trial was first spotted by the web developer Jason Houle, who lives in Springfield, Massachusetts and works for Walt Disney World, when searching for knee pain. He posted a screenshot of the trial from his smartphone on Reddit.

Searching for knee pain brought up the option to talk with a doctor using Chrome on Android. Photograph: Jason Houle/Imgur

‘See if it’s useful to people’

“Based on your search query, we think you are trying to understand a medical condition,” Google says in the advice box accompanying the ability to video call a doctor. ”Here you can find health care providers who you can visit with over video chat.”

Google said that all video calls to doctors made during the trial, which is limited to California and Massachusetts, will be free to users and covered by Google. In the US most visits to doctors must be paid for, primarily by health insurance.

“When you’re searching for basic health information – from conditions like insomnia or food poisoning – our goal is provide you with the most helpful information available. We’re trying this new feature to see if it’s useful to people,” a Google spokeswoman told the Guardian.

Worth 10% of the economy of developed nations

This is not the first attempt by Google to use its Helpouts video chat system, that connects users to “experts” in various fields using a modified version of Google’s Hangouts text, audio and video chat service.

Google Helpouts became complaint with the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which governs patient data confidentiality, and offered video chats with doctors for those with health insurance from One Medical Group last year. Patients could request a consultation and video chat with a doctor within 20 minutes.

The move to a trial within standard search results shows Google’s continued push towards the medical industry, which has both financial incentives and a personal interest from the company’s founders.

The healthcare industry is a potentially lucrative market for technology companies like Google, worth about 10% of the economy of developed nations. The US healthcare industry is valued at $3 trillion, while more than £100bn is spent yearly on the NHS, according to the Department for Health.

Apple has also showed interest in the healthcare market most recently with is recent Health app that integrates with various medical and quantified-self devices, but maintains patient data privacy.

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