Google Inc. is continuing its expansion into new IT business areas, with the announcement of a pilot project which will store medical records of a few thousand people who are patients of a Cleveland clinic. A number of 1,500 to 10,000 patients at the Cleveland Clinic volunteered to give their personal health records up to be electronically transferred so they can be retrieved through Google's new experimental service.

"We believe patients should be able to easily access and manage their own health information," said Marissa Mayer, the Google executive overseeing the health project, quoted by AP.

The clinic which has partnered with Google already uses a software system to keep medical records, MyChart, which also features online access through the facility's internal network. However, if patients choose to transfer their data to Google, they would be able to view their files from any location.

"Patients are more proactively managing their own healthcare information," Dr. C. Martin Harris, the Cleveland Clinic's chief information officer, said in a statement. "At Cleveland Clinic, we strive to participate in and help to advance the national dialogue around a more efficient and effective national healthcare system."

However, in this field at least, Google was beat to the punch. Microsoft launched in October a new Web service aimed at helping people better manage their health information. Called HealthVault, the service is still in its beta phase and according to Microsoft it was created and designed to help people to take control of their health records. HealthVault can be used by the patients to monitor their medical status.