Louis-based Ascension, a Catholic chain of 2,600 hospitals, doctors offices and other facilities, with the data sharing accelerating since summer, according to internal documents obtained exclusively by The Wall Street Journal. The data involved in the initiative encompasses lab results, doctor diagnoses and hospitalization records, among other categories, and amounts to a complete health history, including patient names and dates of birth.
At least 150 Google employees already have access to much of the data on tens of millions of patients, according to a person familiar with the matter and the documents.
Google teamed up with Ascension, a Catholic chain of 2,600 hospitals spread out over 21 states and in the District of Columbia, and other doctors offices launch the project last year.
Forbes reports that the project involves Ascension moving patient records onto Googles cloud servers and includes a search product that allows Ascension healthcare providers to see an overview page about their patients. The page includes complete patient information as well as notes about patient medical issues, test results and medications, including information from scanned documents, according to presentations viewed by Forbes.
The Journal and Forbes both reported that it appeared as though Googles actions were not in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 .
The New York Times reported over the summer that Google has been accused of inappropriate access to massive amounts of health care records through the University of Chicago Medical Center.
The deal with the University of Chicago medical center violated patient privacy, the lawsuit claims, because those records also included date stamps of when patients checked in and checked out of the hospital, the Times added.
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