Google is providing cloud computing services
to Ascension, which operates health centers
in 21 states, mostly across the South and
Midwest. It is also testing the use of artificial
intelligence to examine health records and find
patterns that Google says might help doctors
and other providers.
Health care providers are increasingly
interested in using data to help manage care
and keep patients healthy. That might mean
relatively simple things like tracking whether
someone refills a prescription or something
more complex like spotting a worsening
medical condition and addressing it before the
patient winds up in the hospital.
Health care systems are allowed to share
patient information with business partners
so long as the partners agree to safeguard
the information and use it only in the way it
was intended.
“To be clear: under this arrangement,
Ascension’s data cannot be used for any
other purpose than for providing these
services we’re offering under the agreement,
and patient data cannot and will not be
combined with any Google consumer data,”
Google cloud executive Tariq Shaukat wrote
in a blog post.
Still, some people are wary of the big tech
company having access to sensitive personal
information. Google, along with other big
tech counterparts including Facebook and
Apple, have been under the microscope in the
last couple years about how they use — and
sometimes misuse — the vast collections of
customer data they collect.