X

Google Health expands deal with CVS

Customers of CVS' pharmacy will now be able to import their prescription records into Google Health.

Ina Fried Former Staff writer, CNET News
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley.
Ina Fried

Customers of CVS' pharmacy will be able to import their prescription records into a Google Health account as a result of an expanded deal between the two companies. The deal was announced Monday.

An earlier deal already allowed workers whose company uses CVS Caremark to handle drug benefits to use Google Health to store their drug records. The new deal expands this to customers of CVS' network of retail pharmacies.

"We now offer all of our consumers the ability to download their prescription and medication history into their Google Health Personal Health Record, whether they are CVS/pharmacy customers, CVS Caremark plan participants or visitors to our MinuteClinic locations," said CVS Caremark Executive Vice President Helena Foulkes in a statement. "By enabling patients to download their prescription information directly into their personal health record, we are helping to close the gap in today's fragmented health care system and provide a full view of a patient's health."

To use the tool, the companies said, consumers need to sign up for the prescription management feature on CVS.com as well as be authenticated. With the latest deal, Google said it now believes more than 100 million Americans will have the option of viewing their drug history within Google Health.

Microsoft, which is also trying to sign consumers up for its HealthVault service, announced a deal with New York-Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday which will allow patients of that hospital system to export their records to a HealthVault account.