The National Institutes for Health has announced the partial suspension of a diabetes treatment study which was focusing on aggressive measures to reduce blood sugar levels. An article in The Wall Street Journal indicates that the aggressive strategy being used apparently resulted in a small increase in the number of patient deaths as compared to a moderate treatment approach being used on other patients who were involved in the study. The increase was merely three deaths per 1000 patients, yet researchers are unable to correlate the exact reasons for the increase in deaths and therefore the more aggressive portion of the testing has been terminated.

The study did not focus on specific treatments. Rather, researchers were attempting to determine the importance of differing treatment strategies. John Buse, president for medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association stated, "We were basically trying to see if we should have a full-court press on blood sugar or just try to do a reasonable job." The study, which is named Accord, involves providing diabetic patients with various drugs in an effort to reduce blood sugar levels and is also seeking to isolate particularly beneficial bio-markers for monitoring diabetic patient health.

According to The New York Times, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) are "working up their plans to improve the nation's health care." The companies plan to combine search, the medical community's vast knowledge about disease and personal health records to better serve people with health issues.

While the companies are up against a medical systems known for its bureaucracy, they appear to believe that they can bring in large numbers of new users and medical advertisers as well. The Times writes that a recent Harris poll showed that 51% of adults consulted the internet for health information.

Both companies believe that patients would be happier if they had more control over their health records and decisions about illnesses.

All of this ignores the question of whether people will trust big software and internet companies to be stewards of their records, and whether they will trust information from companies that are simply trying to make money off a new line of business.

Online health care is already a crowded industry. Companies including WebMD and Healthline already provide medical information and patient services. The Center for the Study of Disease Control and National Institutes for Health have heavily visited websites. And, they are not-for-profit government agencies that most consumers would probably view as more trustworthy and software monopolies.

Microsoft Health may seem like a good idea, but will anyone trust it?

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St. G