Sometimes you just gotta geek out over what’s happening in health care even if its implications are years away.

In 2014, Google CEO, Sergey Brin, complained about “heavily regulated” health care that discouraged health care tech entrepreneurship. Last week Google emerged from secret talks with Ascension health system with a deal (Project Nightingale) to analyze and store health care and administrative data. Meanwhile, Amazon, who never shared Google’s timidity on health care, announced its third major health care venture in the last two years—the Amazon Care app. The rollout of the Amazon Care app for its Seattle-based employees comes after Amazon purchased online pharmacy PillPack in 2018 and teamed with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to create the healthcare company, Haven. It seems like tech companies have found a remedy for health care’s regulatory headaches, or maybe it’s the chance for health care tech glory that they can’t walk away from.

There’s A Lot of Potential In Health Care Data Tech

It’s not surprising that Google changed its mind and inked a health care data deal. Google so wants to join the list of artificial intelligence (AI) pioneers, and having access to mounds of health care data is the first step to AI glory. Seriously, most health care systems around the world currently have AI projects to analyze health care data and monitor patients. And robotic surgery and robotic-assisted surgery has been a thing for well over a decade. Future AI health care projects may include machines that perform tasks currently done by health care professionals. When you think about it, the idea that if you compile enough data from multiple sources (doctors’ notes, physical exams, diagnostic images, etc.), you can teach a computer to diagnose and treat diseases is pretty cool.

Ascension also has a lot to gain if Google can manipulate the millions of patient data records into an AI system that can diagnose and treat diseases. Imagine the savings hospitals would realize if computers could replace some of the doctors and other health care specialists they would otherwise hire to perform these tasks. And it’s not just the potential savings of using artificial intelligence in health care, AI could reduce health care errors and allow hospitals to serve more patients.

Okay, I’m obviously fascinated by the possibilities of AI in health care. And if big tech can meet the privacy and security standards set by federal laws such as HIPAA, I say bring it on. We’ve already given up a lot of our privacy when it comes to health care. We’re willing to wear activity tracking devices, fill out online health risk assessments, and use telemedicine services all in the hope of improving our health or paying less for health care.

While Individual Privacy Concerns Decreases, Regulators Remain Alert

Ten years ago when I was working in private sector Human Resources benefits departments, health care data privacy was a big deal. Many workers balked at completing health risk assessments (HRA) because they thought their employers would use any “negative” health data from the assessment to fire them. They didn’t like the idea of their employer having such personal data. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission weighed in on workplace wellness programs that charged higher health insurance plan premiums to workers that refused to complete a health risk assessment. Today, you rarely hear about health risk assessment privacy issues. But that’s not to say that privacy and security are not important in health care. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 2003 (aka HIPAA) is a reminder to anyone who has or wants to access health care data of how seriously federal regulators take health care data privacy and security.

Between April 2003 and October 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) received nearly 221,000 health privacy complaints. Seventy percent of the complaints resulted in corrective action. And while the number of HIPAA privacy RULE complaints is at its lowest point since 2003, HHS has consistently reviewed over a thousand complaints per year since the passage of HIPAA, and in some years they have reviewed more than four times that. So it was no surprise that HHS reacted swiftly to the news about the Google-Ascension deal and promised to review the venture for privacy concerns. What’s missing from the conversations about this new partnership is is it worth it? We’re used to innovations that save lives, but where are the innovations that save money where the savings are passed on to individual health care consumers in the form of lower hospital prices and insurance premiums?

Conclusion

How much privacy do we need to give up to reap the benefits of a more efficient, safe, and potentially affordable health care system is anyone’s guess. The health care tech entrepreneurship Google’s Brin envisions may end up costing more in terms of dollars and individual privacy. We have a regulatory system in place to address health data privacy concerns, but we’re missing one that addresses costs-benefits concerns. Until we honestly address the cost-benefits of health care innovation, my inner tech geek can’t get too excited.

Tags: health care , health care privacy, HIPAA, Google, Ascension, HHS