Google is teaming with one of the country’s largest health-care systems on a secret project to collect and crunch the detailed personal health information of millions of Americans across 21 states, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The initiative, code-named “Project Nightingale,” appears to be the largest in a series of efforts by Silicon Valley giants to gain access to personal health data and establish a toehold in the massive health care industry. Amazon, Apple and Microsoft are also aggressively pushing into health care, though they haven’t yet struck deals of this scope.
Google launched the effort last year with St. Louis-based Ascension, the country’s second-largest health system. The data involved in Project Nightingale pertains to lab results, doctor diagnoses and hospitalization records, among other categories, and amounts to a complete health history, including patient names and dates of birth.
Google is using the data, in part, to design new software that zeros in on individual patients to suggest changes to their care. A Google spokeswoman says the project is fully compliant with federal health law and includes robust protections for patient data. An Ascension spokesman had no immediate comment. Read the full story.
