Karen DeSalvo, MD, chief health officer of Google, said the company aims to create a 'doctor in your pocket,' as she says patients will be going to their phones to access healthcare and health information, Politico reported March 29.
"People want to not have to be so reliant on the house of medicine to learn about their health," Dr. DeSalvo told Politico.
Since the departure of David Feinberg, MD, former head of Google Health, the company has been working to give more people control over their health, according to Dr. DeSalvo.
This includes optimizing Google and YouTube's search functions so that it can better answer health questions, making Google's wearable more closely aligned to medical devices and making its AI tools compliant with healthcare industry standards.
The aim of this, according to Dr. DeSalvo is to provide consumers with the most accurate health information as well as make people want to be healthier.