Siemens signs licensing deal to market Microsoft's HealthVault in Germany

Siemens AG  has signed a licensing agreement with Microsoft to introduce the Microsoft HealthVault in Germany.

HealthVault, a personal health application platform, enables individuals to store their health information including immunsations, disease history and prescriptions in an online account.

Under the agreement, Through its Siemens IT Solutions and Services division will be the exclusive operator of HealthVault in Germany and will market the platform to developers, application providers and device manufacturers to join the service and provide citizens with tools that will help foster dynamic, trusted and personalized healthcare.

Users can store information from multiple sources, including medical monitoring devices, to measure things like blood pressure, pulse and weight; diagnostic findings from general practitioners and medical specialists; imaging procedures; and training plans developed by physiotherapists and rehabilitation facilities. In addition to manually entering the information, data from certified devices can be transferred through a personal computer into HealthVault accounts using HealthVault Connection Center.

The security-enhanced platform enables individuals to confidentially manage their personal health data. Users are able to access their data virtually anytime, from anywhere, and decide for themselves who is granted access to the information. Siemens will host all stored health data in security-enhanced datacenters in Germany.

To help protect consumer privacy, user data is transmitted through an encrypted connection over the Internet. As their own health managers, users keep control of the information stored in HealthVault and can decide the people who are permitted access.