Business

According to Laudon and Laudon (2008, p. 32), technology ought to be changed and designed in a way that fits individuals as well as organizational needs. Therefore Google and Microsoft are capitalizing on this fact to improve on the storage of patients information in the United States by creating massive databases. These companies perceive that the efficient information systems when well utilized transforms data into significant information for sound decisions that enhance performance of organizations (Laudon and Laudon 2008, p. 32). In the present digital world coupled with globalization, massive databases proposed by the two multinational companies in health care industry stand to transform the industry and better the lives of Americans.

These initiatives would grant more control to individuals, a trend a number of health professionals see as indispensable. When these projects are realized patients in the United States will finally be the custodians of their own health information (Moller 2009, p. 1). The principle behind these databases to be created by Google and Microsoft is that medical records belong to the patients and thus they ought to encompass control over them as well as deciding the content of these records. Besides, these massive health databases would save lives of several Americans (Moller 2009, p. 1). Electrical databases enable quick identification of patients at risk together with access to their medical history and thus enabling hasty disease diagnosis and treatment particularly in critical scenarios. Since these massive databases will be accessed through the internet this will drastically reduce the communication costs between health institutions regarding the patients history and other pertinent information (Laudon and Laudon 2008, p. 9). Furthermore, other strengths of Google and Microsoft massive health databases for United States population would comprise improved quality of medical care, error limitations, and reduction in service duplication. All these strengths are intended to save both lives of Americans as well as money spent in seeking medical services (Lohr 2007, p. 1).

However, the anticipated projects of these enormous companies have a number of disadvantages or weaknesses, such as lack of privacy, lack of security, and complexity issues. The grave weakness of these health plans is the privacy of patients information. We are living in the world where an individual privacy rates above all other factors and thus very few individuals would be comfortable regarding their full medical information digitized and recoded for the public (Welter 2008, p. 63). Incursion into individuals privacy will be spearheaded by these projects, thereby compromising the essential health factor of confidentiality.

Additionally, peoples health records on the massive databases are never secure or safe. Though, these companies assure the patients and general public of the safety of their online health account, loss, theft, and even damage of health records do occur from time to time. Encryptions and passwords used to protect the account do not adequately and effective protect the data. Stories of stolen identities, data hacking, and blackmail are not new to these two companies. Even databases of high security like those run by credit institutions and banks are frequently compromised (Welter 2008, p. 63). Therefore, the plans of massive databases to hold the United States populations health records are double edged.