Quote:Google has been quietly gathering detailed health record information on millions of Americans without informing patients and doctors.

First reported by the Wall Street Journal, Google’s “Project Nightingale” program gathered data that included “lab results, doctor diagnoses and hospitalization records, among other categories, and amounts to a complete health history, complete with patient names and dates of birth.”
 
The publication adds that as many as 150 Google employees may have had access to the data and that some could have downloaded it.
 
Google attained the information through last year’s partnership with Ascension, the country’s second-largest healthcare system. The Catholic, non-profit has more than 34,000 providers across 21 states and the District of Columbia.
 
Google is using the data to create software that utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning that can make care suggestions for patients. Forbes writes that as part of the project, Ascension moved patient records to Google’s cloud servers, and a search product allowed healthcare providers to see an “overview page” about their patients.

Quote:Today, we’re proud to announce more details on our partnership with Ascension, one of the nation’s leading non-profit health systems, to support them with technology that helps them to deliver better care to patients across the United States. There’s been a good deal of speculation on this partnership, so we want to make sure everyone has the facts.

Our work with Ascension focuses on three things: 

• Shifting Ascension’s infrastructure to the cloud: The partnership will modernize Ascension’s infrastructure, enabling them to migrate their on-premise data warehouse and analytics environments to their own private and secure Google Cloud environment. Key elements of this work will focus on network and system connectivity, data integration, privacy and security, and compliance.
  
• Using G Suite productivity tools: This will enhance Ascension employees’ ability to communicate and collaborate securely in real time, supporting interdisciplinary care and operations teams across Ascension sites of care.
  
• Extending tools to doctors and nurses to improve care: We aim to provide tools that Ascension could use to support improvements in clinical quality and patient safety.