Google Search Gets New Tools To Help Find A Suitable Doctor - Screen Rant

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Google has today announced a few new feature updates for Search that will allow users to access the right healthcare option, such as a medical professional who can accept their insurance or one who can speak their language to lower the communication barrier for better exchange of problems and advice. Lately, the company has come up with a ton of new health-centric additions to Search, which includes everything from finding COVID-19 vaccination spots to discovering authoritative medical information from state-backed health institutions and medical institutes.

Google recently created a public COVID-19 Vaccination Access Dataset that provides important information such as the amount of time needed to visit a vaccination site based on the mode of transportation, in addition to a COVID-19 Vaccination Search Insights tool to assist health officials and researchers. The Exposure Notification system created in collaboration with Apple was a landmark effort as well. The company was also created an AI-powered dermatology assist tool that allows users to identify a skin condition by taking a picture with their phone’s camera.

Moving forward in that direction, Google has announced that when searching for doctors near their location, users will be able to check if the healthcare professional accepts their medical insurance network. And for folks trying to find a new provider, they can filter the search results on mobile with a dedicated button for Medicare acceptance. For the unaware, Medicare is the national health insurance program for folks aged 65 or higher and those with disabilities identified by the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Helping Find The Best Healthcare Resources

The second new health service-centric Google Search feature is identifying if a healthcare professional can speak the same tongue as patients. “People want to be able to communicate clearly in their language of choice,” writes Hema Budaraju, Director of Google Search product at the company. Doctors and other certified healthcare professionals with a listing of their services on Google Search will now be able to tell if their office is a multi-lingual space, and that patients who speak any other language than English can avail healthcare services at the premises. Google says it currently allows representation of over a dozen languages that also include American Sign Language.

The company also claims that it is actively checking if the Search listings of local doctors are updated with the latest information, and is allowing them to keep all the relevant details fresh by updating their respective Google Business Profiles. Once a healthcare professional has claimed a Google Business Profile, they can accordingly edit and update all the information that patients can find relevant, such as consultation timings, services offered, and more. However, Google doesn’t say if the aforementioned features are currently limited to certain markets, or whether they are rolling out across the world.

Next: GoodRx: How Google & Facebook Benefit From Your Cheap Medicine

Source: Google

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Nadeem Sarwar (410 Articles Published)

Nadeem has been writing about consumer technology for over three years now, having worked with names such as NDTV and Pocketnow in the past. Aside from covering the latest news, he also has experience testing out the latest phones and laptops. When he's not writing, you can find him failing at Doom eternal.