Google confirms plans for a search tool that can analyze millions of health records

Interestingly, the partnership was mentioned in Googles July earnings call, but it came under scrutiny only on Monday after the Wall Street Journal reported that Google would gain detailed personal health information of millions of Americans across 21 states.

The report also said the data involved in the project includes patient names, dates of birth, lab results, doctor diagnoses, and hospitalization records, along with a complete medical history.

Google confirmed the deal, adding the arrangement adheres to HIPAA regulations regarding patient data and that it will meet necessary privacy and security requirements.

Ascensions data cannot be used for any other purpose than for providing these services were offering under the agreement, and patient data cannot and will not be combined with any Google consumer data, Google said.

For Google, the data-sharing project comes with another objective: design a searchable, cloud-based platform to query patient data, which it could then market to other healthcare providers.

But this would also mean adequate safeguards are in place to anonymize the information before it could be used to develop machine learning models for personalized healthcare.

It has similar relationships with a number of hospital networks, including Dr. Agarwals Eye Hospital, the Chilean Health Ministry, Mayo Clinic, and American Cancer Society.

Given this checkered history, it shouldnt be much of a surprise ifGoogle and other big tech companies grapple with the privacy concerns associated with handling health information when they are already in possession of enormous amounts of data about their users.