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November 14, 2019

Google Announces Data Sharing Arrangement with Ascension

This week, as Google and Ascension Health’s partnership, “Project Nightingale,” was made public, OCR has requested more information regarding the arrangement. The project is a data sharing arrangement in which Google is processing and storing information in its cloud management system. The data involved in the project include lab results, doctor diagnoses, and hospitalization records, and amounts to a complete health history, including patient names and dates of birth. According to the article, the goal is to create an omnibus search tool to aggregate disparate patient data and host it all in one place. While HIPAA permits data sharing between covered entities and business associates for purposes of treatment, payment, and operations, this arrangement has sparked privacy concerns.