Google is involved in a previously unknown project in which it collects and processes detailed medical data from millions of Americans without informing patients or doctors, the WSJ reports citing sources and documents.
The initiative, codenamed Project Nightingale, revolves around the personal medical information of millions of Americans from 21 different states, the WSJ says based on insiders and internal documents. The project began last year and involves Ascension, the second largest medical health system in the US. This is a Catholic organization with 2600 hospitals, medical posts and other facilities. The sharing of the data would have accelerated last summer, the WSJ says based on the documents.
For example, the data would include laboratory results, but also medical diagnoses and hospital records. It would be possible to compile a complete health history, including the names of the patients and their dates of birth. At least 150 Google employees would have access to much of the data of tens of millions of patients, according to a person familiar with the matter. Some Ascension employees are said to have raised questions about how the data is collected and shared, from both a technological and ethical standpoint.
Google’s cloud component would participate in this project to use the data to design new software, combined with the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning, to suggest ways to tailor care for individual patients. Employees of Google’s parent company Alphabet would have access to patient information, including employees of Google Brain, a research division of the company.
Ascension would like to improve care delivery with this project, partly because it has so far used a relatively slow, decentralized system. However, the company would also like to collect data so that more tests can be written, or so that it can determine where more money can be made from an individual patient, according to documents.
A Google spokeswoman said the project complies with federal medical laws and has robust protections for patient data. An Ascension spokesperson declined to comment. According to privacy experts, this project and Google’s actions are in line with the rules of the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. This law states that hospitals can share data with business partners without notifying patients. provided the information is used to help the entity in question perform its health duties.