Google Health opened up to the public today after several months of private beta testing. The long-anticipated health records project now allows Google users to manage their doctor records, prescriptions, and test results, as well as find out information about drug interactions and search for new doctors. All you need is a Gmail account and a healthy dose of trust to get started with Google Health, although some are still skeptical about the terms of service.

Signing into the service is extremely simple. If you already have an account with Google (already required in order to use Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and the like), then you have already skipped a major step. This is also one of Google Health's possible downfalls, however, as it is now exceedingly easy for a hacker to discover someone's universal Google login (which, by the way, has no minimum requirement for secure passwords) and not just access their e-mail but their health records too.

Still, logging in and using the site is easy—"Google easy," one might say. Using easy-to-find links on the landing page or in the left-hand column, users can add their own personal information (such as date of birth, height, and weight), list out their existing medications and allergies, and, most importantly, import their medical records.

This feature is limited to a small list of healthcare providers and drugstores that offer online records already. For those of us whose doctors still maintain records the old fashioned way, importing records won't be quite so simple.

If you do have records as part of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, Longs Drug Stores, and Walgreens Pharmacy (among others), importing your data is exceedingly simple. For me, I had old prescription records stored at Walgreens, which I was able to bring into Google Health after logging into my Walgreens account and authorizing Google to use the information for as long as I deem appropriate. Google makes what you are doing exceedingly clear before you do it and allows you to set your own expiration date for when you need to authorize the import of information again.

Once your information is imported, you can access it from you have an Internet connection. You can also share your info with certain parties, like your spouse or your doctor, at your own discretion. Google emphasizes that your data is entirely, 100 percent yours and you can do with it as you please—any individual who gains access to your data has to have explicit permission to do so by you (apart from the enterprising hacker mentioned above).

Protecting your privacy

That brings us to Google Health's privacy policy. A number of sites have expressed (legitimate, in our opinion) skepticism over the terms of use presented to users during signup. For example, one part of the TOS reads, "When you provide your information through Google Health, you give Google a license to use and distribute it in connection with Google Health and other Google services." That sounds scary at first, but upon reviewing the privacy policy document, Google makes it extremely clear how it will and will not use your data.

Google claims that it absolutely will not share your identified or de-identified information without explicit consent, except in situations requiring the company to do so by law. If Google becomes involved in a merger or acquisition, the company will provide notice to all users before any personal information is transferred, and will only share aggregated, nonpersonal information with third parties. For example, Google might say that 20 percent of Google Health users have imported data from Walgreens.com, or that 5 percent of users with seasonal allergies clicked ads for Claritin.

Of course, there are still a number of other concerns about Google Health, and online health record projects in general. As we wrote last October when Microsoft launched HealthVault, patients are historically poor at remembering everything said to them by doctors, while others may not be in the mood to enter everything that exists on their records. Considering that there are only a handful of providers that allow you to import your records directly, anything that is user-entered is only as trustworthy as those surveys they make you fill out when you go to a new physician. The information provided may be incomplete or just flat out wrong.

As long as patients have the ability to add data to their records, Google Health and HealthVault are likely to face skepticism from the healthcare system (unsurprising, given the state of electronic health records). Still, physicians could merely restrict themselves to only depending upon the records imported directly from other healthcare providers (which cannot be modified by the user without going to that healthcare provider first), which would allow them easy and trustworthy access to a patient's medical history.

Google VP Search Products and User Experience Marissa Mayer wrote on the Google Blog today that the company is looking forward to hearing feedback from early adopters about their experiences, concerns, and usage. Perhaps if the medical community feels strongly enough about Google Health's potential, the company might make changes that will further ensure the privacy and reliability of patients' information.