An interesting thread popped up on reddit a few days ago where a user ran a search for knee pain on Google via his mobile phone and was prompted with the option to consult with a doctor, live, and for free.
So off I went and tried the same search on my laptop:
Similar text recommending a doctors consultation, alas lacking the live chat functionality behind it. Regardless there’s clearly something to this. When digging deeper into the functionality planned behind this Gizmodo got the following response from Google:
When you’re searching for basic health information — from conditions like insomnia or food poisoning — our goal is provide you with the most helpful information available. We’re trying this new feature to see if it’s useful to people.
Furthermore Google has also confirmed that it will funnel these medical chat requests into “Helpouts-like” video sessions – much in the same fashion as you would request some WordPress assistance from me via my G+ Helpout. This in-turn means a larger emphasis on user-written reviews and ratings for doctors and, potentially, their clients.
As it sits right now this is in the early stages of testing, and does seem geographically limited. However feel free to run a search for knee pain or neck pain on Google and see what you get!