Google ends EHR service.

• Position: HEALTH RECORDS

Google has decided to end its electronic health records (EHR) initiative after three years. According to The New York Times, Google Health failed to attract enough users. The service required users to enter, update, and edit their health data online. By contrast, the U.S. government's EHR initiative offers up to $40,000 in incentives for hospitals and doctors who move patients' paper records online.

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Analysts say EHRs are new to most people, and even early adopters have found them difficult to use. "Personal health records have been a technology in search of a market," Lynne A. Dunbrack, an analyst at IDC Health Insights, told The Times.

To illustrate the challenge for Google Health, a 2011 IDC Health Insights survey found that 7% of consumers had tried online...