The company remains deeply invested in health-focused initiatives but confirmed that there will no longer be a single entity at the company focused on health projects.
FREMONT, CA: Even as it disbands its one unified health business, Google claims to be increasing its investments in programmes focused on improving people's health. Google has increased its focus on health technology and widened its market penetration, from consumer-facing goods like sleep tracking technology with its Nest Hub smart home devices and Fitbit wearables to clinical projects like its Care Studio EHR search tool and its health AI work.
However, as the internet giant pivots away from a unified health strategy and reassigns its 570 people across the firm, those initiatives will now be split across Google's numerous teams and divisions, according to a leaked letter acquired by Insider.
David Feinberg, M.D., the head of Google Health who joined the firm in 2019, left and is now the CEO and president of the health IT company Cerner. The company that makes software for electronic health records made the announcement late last week.
Google Health's projects and teams will now be dispersed throughout several Google divisions. Google will no longer have a single entity solely dedicated to health projects.There won't be any employment cuts or project adjustments, and the Feinberg teams will continue working together.
Jeff Dean, PhD, the head of Google's research division and Feinberg's supervisor, informed staff members in a memo that Google Health would no longer operate as a single entity.Karen DeSalvo, M.D Google's chief medical officer, who oversees the group responsible for regulatory and clinical issues, will now answer to Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker.
Dean will now receive direct reports from the clinician's team at Google Health, which is developing a platform to let doctors search medical records more readily. The vice president of search and AI Yossi Matias will oversee the health AI department, which is focused on initiatives including medical imaging, according to Langley and Dodge.
Google's decision to close the specialised health section marks the end of a cohesive healthcare approach. Instead of the company’s top-down pursuit of healthcare at scale, they are returning to a business-line vertical healthcare strategy. Google's disjointed healthcare policy was never fully resolved.
On the consumer-facing side, Google Search, Fitbit, and Nest will follow their respective healthcare strategies. Along with Google Cloud, Verily, and Google Health, these companies all have enterprise health strategies. Different corporate units are still working toward a fragmented and incoherent healthcare strategy. Google has increased its investments in health across the company because we strongly believe that technology can be used to promote health and wellness. This has included releasing and growing health-related tools on Search, Maps, and YouTube that are accessible to billions of users and integrating Fitbit.
