Check out some of this year’s health and wellness features and initiatives from Search, YouTube, Fitbit and more
Here are seven things I learned from trying Fitbit's Premium Sleep Profile — and how it impacted my rest.
Our partnership with iCAD Inc. marks the first time we are licensing our mammography AI model in clinical practice.
This week kicked off the HLTH Conference in Las Vegas where thousands of healthcare leaders, care providers, patients and other people in the industry — like our teams at Google — are coming together to discuss how to create a healthier world.
At Google, we believe that technology — especially AI and analytics — can unlock a better future for health globally. Our teams from Search, YouTube, Android, Google Cloud and more are using technology to provide health information and insights for consumers, caregivers and communities. Here’s a look at some of our latest updates.
For many, the front door to healthcare is their smartphone. Millions of people turn to Google Search and YouTube for authoritative information or use apps and connected devices, like Fitbit, to help stay on top of health and wellness goals.
To give Android users a new way to get more from their health and wellness data, we introduced Health Connect earlier this year at Google I/O. Through our Early Access Program, more than 10 health, fitness and wellness apps including MyFitnessPal, Oura and Peloton have already integrated with the platform to help people manage everything from workouts to diet to sleep and more. We are now opening up to more developers with Health Connect (Beta) to give people a single place to manage access to data across their health and fitness apps. In the coming months, we will continue to create an even richer ecosystem of apps and features.
We’ve also made strides on our other platforms, Search and YouTube. In 2021, health videos on YouTube were viewed more than 12 billion times in the U.S. YouTube’s authoritative health content and features are now available in 7 countries, and YouTube recently opened up its features to a wider group of health experts in the U.S. to encompass authoritative services that extend beyond educational institutions and health organizations.
On Search, there’s more ways for people to turn health information into action. After piloting a feature earlier this year that shows available healthcare appointments for primary care, we’re continuing to explore new ways to expand appointments to other specialities and verticals through new and existing partnerships.
This work is made possible by all our partners who provide the health information, insights and experiences that empower consumers in their health.
Healthcare is one of the largest and most complex industries that is turning towards technology to help organizations run more effectively — which in turn helps people live healthier lives.
When organizations commit to digital transformation, it can be a long and overwhelming process, but that doesn’t mean it has to take years to see benefits for developers, clinicians and patients.
Google Cloud came together with several of our customers and partners — including Hackensack Meridian Health, Lifepoint Health and Mayo Clinic — to find a way to encourage rapid reinvention. As a result, we built Google Cloud’s new Healthcare Data Engine (HDE) accelerators to help organizations reinvent quickly and enable the data interoperability that saves lives. The first three HDE accelerators, available in early 2023, will address common use cases around health equity, patient flow, and value-based care.
The transformation of healthcare requires an open and collaborative approach to be successful. For example, Electronic Health Records (EHR) are a critical part of this ecosystem and we see many ways to work with EHR companies for the benefit of healthcare organizations. Today marks a critical development in this journey. At HLTH we announced an agreement that will allow healthcare organizations to run Epic — an EHR system — on Google Cloud. Hackensack Meridian Health plans to move its Epic workloads to Google Cloud, with the aim to drive greater innovation, efficiencies and security.
And with our solution Care Studio, we’ve been working with MEDITECH to bring our advanced search, summarization and sense-making capabilities to their EHR, MEDITECH Expanse. We are now extending this integrated solution to our first two partners, Mile Bluff Medical Center and DCH Health System, to give their health teams a more complete view of their patients and easily find salient information to provide better care. This includes organizing patient records from different sources into a longitudinal view, bringing our advanced search functionality to clinicians directly in their EHR so they can easily and quickly access critical information all in one place.
Fitbit Health Solutions is bringing our technology to healthcare partners, incorporating Fitbit devices, services and insights into programs focused on managing chronic conditions like diabetes. A study from the All of Us research program found that increasing your daily step count by 1000 steps could cut the risk of type 2 diabetes by more than 25%. This kind of insight is key to promoting lifestyle changes for people, and why we are partnering with Babylon Health to support their high-risk members managing chronic conditions.
Underpinning all our work is a deep commitment to make sure that we do not leave anyone behind. Technology has the power to eliminate health disparities and democratize access to healthcare. But we need to be intentional in our efforts to live up to our goal of improving the health of billions of people by building for everyone, everywhere.
In water-scarce regions like California, every last drop counts. Yet millions of gallons of water are lost every year to a common, yet easily preventable, cause of water waste: leaky toilets.
That's why we recently co-funded a pilot project to install water-saving technology in three multi-family buildings in Los Angeles. The tech takes aim at common leaks, like toilets that keep running water when not in use, which can add up over time. The pilot is on track to save 6.4 million gallons of water a year in the L.A. watershed where we operate, supporting our commitment to replenish 120% of the water we consume, on average, across our offices and data centers by 2030.
The pilot came together with partners from the California Water Action Collaborative (CWAC), a water stewardship network of over 25 organizations — including private companies like Google alongside environmental NGOs and nonprofits — that are committed to improving water security across the state.
Here's a look at how this project is saving water, money and energy, and at the potential for collective action models to make meaningful progress on rising water challenges.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power estimates that the average household loses up to 10,000 gallons of water every year to leaky toilets that go unnoticed. The good news is that while leaky toilets can be hard to detect, they’re easy to fix.
For the pilot project, CWAC members Pacific Institute and Bonneville Environmental Foundation tackled this challenge in three low-income multi-family housing buildings operated by nonprofit organizations, working alongside the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and other local water utilities. Toilets in these buildings were equipped with small, low-cost, low-power sensors developed by Sensor Industries. When a toilet leaks, the sensors alert building management in real time that a toilet needs to be repaired. The fix is usually as simple as readjusting or replacing the toilet flapper.
This simple intervention resulted in serious savings of water, money and energy, according to estimates from the nonprofit Pacific Institute:
Pacific Institute points to several other advantages of this approach. Residents don’t have to do anything — the non-invasive system detects problems and notifies the building. Facility managers can see the likely reason for the leak (such as a stuck flapper), which helps them fix it faster. The nonprofit building operators can focus on more urgent issues and reduce time spent tracking down leaks.
Taking this pilot to other places has always been a goal, and that expansion effort is now underway. We’re funding work to bring this solution to a 225-unit building in San Francisco that shares a watershed with our local offices. Here we expect to save a little over 1 million gallons of water a year, based on the savings found in L.A.
In New York City, we’re exploring this approach in a building a few miles from our main local campus, and here too we expect to save roughly 1 million gallons of water a year. While this region is not currently in a drought, we expect the system to save significant amounts of energy, as New York City imports its water from far away. Additionally, this project can help reduce pressure on New York’s combined waste- and stormwater system, which can overflow into clean waterways during heavy storms.
In the face of difficult decisions around water resources and scarcity, it’s not easy to find meaningful wins that everyone can get behind. The pilots represent a solution that local utilities anywhere can adopt with the right partners.
Looking ahead, we’ll continue to support collective action around watershed health in the communities where we operate. A healthy, resilient water system takes all of us.
In water-scarce regions like California, every last drop counts. Yet millions of gallons of water are lost every year to a common, yet easily preventable, cause of water waste: leaky toilets.
That's why we recently co-funded a pilot project to install water-saving technology in three multi-family buildings in Los Angeles. The tech takes aim at common leaks, like toilets that keep running water when not in use, which can add up over time. The pilot is on track to save 6.4 million gallons of water a year in the L.A. watershed where we operate, supporting our commitment to replenish 120% of the water we consume, on average, across our offices and data centers by 2030.
The pilot came together with partners from the California Water Action Collaborative (CWAC), a water stewardship network of over 25 organizations — including private companies like Google alongside environmental NGOs and nonprofits — that are committed to improving water security across the state.
Here's a look at how this project is saving water, money and energy, and at the potential for collective action models to make meaningful progress on rising water challenges.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power estimates that the average household loses up to 10,000 gallons of water every year to leaky toilets that go unnoticed. The good news is that while leaky toilets can be hard to detect, they’re easy to fix.
For the pilot project, CWAC members Pacific Institute and Bonneville Environmental Foundation tackled this challenge in three low-income multi-family housing buildings operated by nonprofit organizations, working alongside the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and other local water utilities. Toilets in these buildings were equipped with small, low-cost, low-power sensors developed by Sensor Industries. When a toilet leaks, the sensors alert building management in real time that a toilet needs to be repaired. The fix is usually as simple as readjusting or replacing the toilet flapper.
This simple intervention resulted in serious savings of water, money and energy, according to estimates from the nonprofit Pacific Institute:
Pacific Institute points to several other advantages of this approach. Residents don’t have to do anything — the non-invasive system detects problems and notifies the building. Facility managers can see the likely reason for the leak (such as a stuck flapper), which helps them fix it faster. The nonprofit building operators can focus on more urgent issues and reduce time spent tracking down leaks.
Taking this pilot to other places has always been a goal, and that expansion effort is now underway. We’re funding work to bring this solution to a 225-unit building in San Francisco that shares a watershed with our local offices. Here we expect to save a little over 1 million gallons of water a year, based on the savings found in L.A.
In New York City, we’re exploring this approach in a building a few miles from our main local campus, and here too we expect to save roughly 1 million gallons of water a year. While this region is not currently in a drought, we expect the system to save significant amounts of energy, as New York City imports its water from far away. Additionally, this project can help reduce pressure on New York’s combined waste- and stormwater system, which can overflow into clean waterways during heavy storms.
In the face of difficult decisions around water resources and scarcity, it’s not easy to find meaningful wins that everyone can get behind. The pilots represent a solution that local utilities anywhere can adopt with the right partners.
Looking ahead, we’ll continue to support collective action around watershed health in the communities where we operate. A healthy, resilient water system takes all of us.
Editor’s note: This essay originally appeared in The Global Governance Project's magazine, as part of Google's wider participation in the World Health Summit. Dr. Garth Graham, the global head of YouTube Health, also contributed a piece on the role of information as a determinant of health.
The COVID-19 pandemic energized public-private partnerships and strengthened the role of technology towards democratizing access to health to help billions of people everywhere live healthier lives — but fresh challenges are emerging from its shadow
COVID-19 has been a generation-defining challenge filled with incalculable human costs and long-term impacts that remain unclear. Like many, I have been reflecting on how the pandemic will shape medicine and public health in particular for generations to come.
The pandemic severely tested public health. Many places around the world could not keep pace with the demands of disease surveillance and continue to see challenges with vaccination rates. Still, public health rose to the occasion. Public health officials quickly interpreted evolving science to provide guidance that kept individuals and communities safe. There were also live-saving scientific advancements — from realizing the promise of mRNA vaccines and adaptive clinical trials to using real-world clinical data to inform regulatory processes.
Underlying some incredible gains were public-private partnerships — particularly between the technology and health sectors — which I believe will continue to flourish. These partnerships have made the wider dissemination of public health messages, better data and surveillance systems, and faster interventions possible.
For our part at Google, we adapted to accommodate this hopefully once-in-a-lifetime event by launching more than 200 new products, features and initiatives, in addition to providing in-kind donations totaling more than $1 billion.
Surfacing quality information is part of our core mission. During the first weeks of the pandemic, we recognized the opportunity to provide the right information, at the right time through the reach of platforms such as Search and YouTube that amplified health messages to billions of people, encouraging them to “flatten the curve” through non-pharmacologic interventions. We donated Google Search Advertising and offered assistance to organizations, such as the World Health Organization, to provide more than two billion COVID-related public service announcements that connected nearly 100 million people to high-quality information.
Today, as we conceive of a time when COVID-19 is endemic, we must turn our attention in earnest to other global challenges that the pandemic masked or even exacerbated. For our part, we will continue to use our products, technologies and expertise to help people, their caregivers and their communities, focusing on areas that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, such as mental health and maternal health.
During the first year of the pandemic, anxiety and depression increased by 25% across the globe.
The pandemic also made it clear that existing healthcare gaps need to be filled so people can access the best care no matter where they are. At least half of the global population lacks essential health services
For example, the global maternal mortality rate remains high, with an average of 152 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Another area where AI can be helpful is cancer screening. Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer with 2.26 million new cases occurring each year, yet early screening and detection can improve long-term outcomes.
As we support health service providers across the globe, we are uncovering ways to make sure they have the information they need to care for patients. Today, healthcare workers use smartphone applications to manage data specific to certain diseases, for example malaria and tuberculosis. But that data is often stored across multiple applications and formats, making it hard to have a full picture of a patient’s needs. To provide access to advanced mobile digital health solutions, we are working with the WHO to build an open-source software development kit, or SDK.
We see these innovations as important steps on the road to democratizing health care. There are more on the horizon, fueled by AI and cloud computing, that can bring more meaning to the data and unlock innovation. A great example of this can be found in emerging efforts at the intersection of public health and climate change where we are beginning to see patterns and associations among climate, weather and health.
Technology is just one tool to solve these public health challenges and its effectiveness depends on robust public-private partnerships. When we look back at the COVID-19 pandemic and all of the related health crises it brought awareness to, I believe that we will recognize it as a moment that energized our ability to collaborate. And that spirit of collaboration and partnerships will transform public health and democratize its benefits for everyone, everywhere.
Genome sequencing provides a more complete description of cells and organisms, allowing scientists to uncover serious genetic conditions such as the elevated risk for breast cancer or pulmonary arterial hypertension. While researching genomics has the potential to save lives and preserve people’s quality of life, it's incredibly challenging work.
Back in January, we announced a partnership with PacBio, a developer of genome sequencing instruments, to further advance genomic technologies. Today, PacBio is introducing the Revio sequencing system, an instrument that runs on our deep learning technology, DeepConsensus. With DeepConsensus built right into Revio, researchers can quickly and accurately identify genetic variants that cause diseases.
Genome sequencing requires observing individual DNA molecules amidst a complex and noisy background. To address the problem, Google Health worked to adapt Transformer, one of our most influential existing deep learning methods that was developed in 2017 primarily to understand languages. We then applied it to PacBio’s data, which uses fluorescence light to encode DNA sequences. The result was DeepConsensus.
Last year, we demonstrated that DeepConsensus was capable of reducing sequencing errors by 42%, resulting in better genome assemblies and more accurate identification of genetic variants. Although this was a promising research demonstration, we knew that DeepConsensus could have the greatest impact if it was running directly on PacBio’s sequencing instrument. Over the last year, we’ve worked closely with PacBio to speed up DeepConsensus by over 500x from its initial release. We’ve also further improved its accuracy to reduce errors by 59%.
Combining our AI methods and genomics work with PacBio’s instruments and expertise, we were able to build better methods for the research community. Our partnership with PacBio doesn’t stop with Revio. There’s limitless potential to make an impact on the research community and improve healthcare and access for people around the world.
Vast oak woodlands punctuated with lush willow groves once stretched from Palo Alto to San Jose and beyond, long before the rise of Silicon Valley.
“Centuries of agricultural intensification and urbanization have transformed these landscapes,” says Erin Beller, Google’s ecology program lead who studied Silicon Valley’s ecological history and restoration potential for her PhD. “We’ve lost over 99% of these valuable native habitats.”
Now, Google’s real estate and ecology teams are working to bring nature back into the built environment — in part, by restoring critical habitats like oak woodlands and willow groves across our Bay Area campuses. The goal is to revive the area’s ecological heritage and bolster the human experience while creating thriving, functional landscapes for a biodiverse constellation of species.
Already, the team has restored over 15 acres on Google’s campuses and in the surrounding urban landscape, in partnership with local NGOs, ecology experts and government agencies. This work includes everything from creating welcoming habitat patches for pollinators like native bees and monarch butterflies to partnering on larger projects like restoring the Charleston Retention Basin.
Together these efforts drive landscape-scale restoration of historical ecosystems like oak woodlands, willow groves, meadows and grasslands, and creek and wetland habitats. Oaks and willows are especially important to Beller’s team because they play a defining role in sustaining ecosystems. Both support a dizzying array of wildlife and have great potential to adapt to California’s changing climate. “Oaks and willows have superpowers,” says Beller.
Iconic trees of the California landscape, oaks once dominated Silicon Valley. Oaks are drought-tolerant, fire-resistant, and efficient at removing air pollution and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere.
Oak woodland ecosystems sustain some of the highest plant and animal diversity in California, supporting 2,000 additional plant species and around 5,000 insect species. Hundreds more birds, mammals and other wildlife rely on the richness of oak woodlands for food, shade and shelter.
Oaks can bring powerful benefits to urban areas, like creating wildlife corridors and mitigating the urban heat island effect. Already, Google has planted hundreds of oak trees across our Mountain View and Sunnyvale campuses, with plans to plant hundreds more. These efforts follow guidelines for tree density and spacing laid out in "Re-Oaking Silicon Valley," a study Beller co-authored with her extended team that also serves as a resource for other businesses and organizations.
Whereas oaks thrive on well-drained valley soils, willows flourish in low-lying areas where groundwater is close to the surface. Because willows tap this groundwater, they stay lush and green well into the dry season, reducing the need for irrigation.
Like oaks, willows sequester carbon once mature. They’re also critical for insect biodiversity and can provide high-quality food for insectivorous birds and other wildlife. Silicon Valley has lost nearly all of its willow groves, which once served as essential stopovers for migratory birds heading south.
Thanks to Google’s willow grove restoration initiatives like those around the Charleston Retention Basin and on our Bayview and Charleston East campuses, there are more places for migratory songbirds to rest and find food to replenish their energy en route.
At the Charleston Retention Basin — home to one of the largest willow groves in the region — there are new trails, seats and lookout points so people can immerse themselves in the outdoors and appreciate the biodiversity around them.
In addition to projects in the Bay Area, Google’s ecology team has urban greening projects in the works across several of our campuses, including in the heart of London, Munich and New York.
“Nature and people should be able to flourish together in the campuses and communities that Google calls home,” says Beller.
This work is part of a bigger global movement. The idea that nature in cities is crucial for both people and wildlife is taking root, and high-profile projects like London’s National Park City to The High Line of New York have brought it into the public consciousness.
“We know that access to nature has profound benefits for human health and wellbeing,” says Kate Turpin, director of design performance for Google’s real estate development team. “It can be a place of refuge, from a hot day or the busy pace of working life.”
A field researcher measures the height of native narrow-leaf milkweed on the Google campus, as part of biodiversity monitoring efforts.
To help scale their ideas, Beller’s team supports open-source scientific research, from local guidelines for native planting in Silicon Valley for institutions and residents to academic research about the value of urban nature. “From backyards to businesses, we hope everyone will pitch in to bring nature back into cities,” says Beller. They have also partnered with local scientists to monitor these new habitats on campus, using data to measure the impact of native landscaping on bird and insect biodiversity and inform future campus restoration efforts.
The early signs in the Bay Area are promising. “I can step out of the office and lose myself among the willow groves around the Charleston Retention Basin — enjoy a walk in the shade, spot birds and butterflies, and hear the hum of a functioning ecosystem all around me,” says Beller. “I’ve spent a large part of my career as an ecologist reflecting on what was. It’s awe-inspiring to think about what could be.”
When I’m sick or someone I care about is sick, one of the first things I do — even as a doctor myself — is seek out more information, whether it’s searching for answers to questions online, making an appointment with a doctor or connecting with others in similar situations. At Google, we’re committed to connecting people in those moments to reliable, easy-to-understand information so they can make more informed health decisions for themselves and others.
For Health Literacy Month in the U.S., here are 7 ways our products and services can help you better find and understand health information.
Many of us come to the internet first to look for information about different health conditions and symptoms. When you’re looking for this information on Google Search, you’ll find helpful information panels. These information panels are available in a number of countries and provide details on dozens of conditions — from the common cold to headaches and more.
2. Learn more about your source.
When you’re searching for a topic or condition you’re unfamiliar with, you can use Search tools to learn more about the information you see online. Through the About this result tool — accessed by clicking on the three dots next to most results on Search — you can find information like, descriptions of the source, and what others on the web say about a source or topic. With this added context, you can make more informed decisions about the sites you visit and the health information you rely on.
3. Find an appointment with a care provider — and check your in-network options.
Booking a doctor’s appointment can be an overwhelming and complex process because of the different types of appointments available to you. On Google Search, we have updated our experience to make it easier for tens of millions of people who use Search everyday to find local health information. This includes showing appointment availability for some local providers and facilities and giving you search filters and information to help you identify providers who might take your insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid.
4. Find answers from authoritative health sources.
YouTube has made it easier for people to find reliable information to help answer their health questions. We’ve added health source information panels on videos to help viewers identify videos from authoritative sources, and health content shelves that more effectively highlight videos from these sources when you search for specific health topics. These context cues are aimed at helping people more easily navigate and evaluate authoritative health information.
5. Connect with a community that understands your health journey.
If you’re looking for support, empathy or shared experiences related to certain health conditions, YouTube’s new Personal Stories feature makes it easier to connect with others who have similar experiences. This feature elevates stories from those who are sharing their lived experiences relevant to common health conditions like anxiety, depression and cancer.
6. Understand your health and wellness health information.
Fitbit is designed to give you better and more actionable insights about health and wellness. For example, among its most popular features is Daily Readiness Score that takes multiple inputs — such as sleep patterns, activity levels and heart rate variability — and combines them into one singular number that you can refer to when deciding whether to workout or recover.
7. Get to know (and improve) your ZZZs...
Track your sleep habits to understand patterns that might impact your health and wellbeing. With Fitbit, you can track your sleep each night right from the wrist so you can better understand your patterns, track over time, and make changes to improve your sleep. With Fitbit Premium, you can see an even more in-depth analysis of your sleep with the Sleep Profile feature that offers monthly sleep analyses and an associated Sleep Animal that makes your sleep data even easier to interpret. If you use Nest, Sleep Sensing gives you a daily personalized sleep summary along with tailored bedtime schedules and other suggestions that can help you improve your sleep.
We’re committed to connecting people with the tools, voices, and experiences they need to act for themselves and others on their health journey. After all,organizations have an important role to play in helping people understand and use health information.
