[{"innerBlocks":[],"name":"core\/freeform","postId":98,"blockType":{"name":"core\/freeform","keywords":[],"attributes":{"content":{"type":"string","source":"raw"},"lock":{"type":"object"}},"providesContext":[],"usesContext":[],"selectors":[],"supports":{"className":false,"customClassName":false,"reusable":false},"styles":[],"variations":[],"apiVersion":3,"title":"Classic","description":"Use the classic WordPress editor.","category":"text"},"originalContent":"David Feinberg, MD, head of Google Health, contends that the tech giant\u2019s partnership with St. Louis-based healthcare provider Ascension complies with regulations on the handling patient data.Speaking at last week\u2019s StartUp Health Festival in San Francisco, Feinberg told the conference that he\u2019s \u201csuper proud\u201d of Google\u2019s work with Ascension \u201cdespite what they say in the newspaper\u201d\u2014a reference to the Wall Street Journal,<\/i> which has raised concerns about the ways Google is collecting and analyzing the health information of millions of Ascension\u2019s patients.\u201cAscension chose us as a cloud provider for their records,\u201d said Feinberg. \u201cIn our cloud services, the information is encrypted in transit. It\u2019s encrypted at rest. We have no access to the information. I can\u2019t tell you how many medical records there are because we actually charge for storage space. Think of it as a warehouse. The only one that has the key to that record is Ascension.\u201dFeinberg added that \u201cthe press has made this into something that it\u2019s not.\u201dHowever, a Nov. 11, 2019, WSJ article<\/a> detailed Project Nightingale, a business partnership with Ascension that began in secret last year. The newspaper article charged that the tech giant is \u201camassing health records from Ascension facilities in 21 states\u201d for millions of Americans and that patients were not informed.\u201cNeither patients nor doctors have been notified,\u201d according to the WSJ. \u201cAt least 150 Google employees already have access to much of the data on tens of millions of patients.\u201dNonetheless, Feinberg insists that Google\u2019s dealings with Ascension are fully compliant with HIPAA and includes strong security and privacy measures for protecting patient records.\u201cThere may be times where Google employees are exposed to personal health information,\u201d Feinberg told the StartUp Health Festival. \u201cThose Google folks are trained in HIPAA. It\u2019s through a business associate agreement. Ascension has 600 business associate agreements.\u201dStill, according to the WSJ, some Ascension employees have raised questions about the methods by which the data is being collected and shared \u201cboth from a technological and ethical perspective.\u201dBut, in a January 11 blog<\/a>, Ascension\u2019s Chief Strategy and Innovations Officer Eduardo Conrado attempted to \u201cset the record straight\u201d on what is being done with Google to protect patient health information.\u201cOur privacy and data security practices are consistent with established HIPAA requirements, and we will continue to ensure that these are followed,\u201d wrote Conrado. \u201cIn short, our work with Google Health has adhered to the same standards of data privacy and security oversight we have used in our work over many years with numerous healthcare partners, including EHR, registry, payer and analytics vendors, as well as state and federal agencies.\u201d Conrado noted that Ascension\u2019s work with Google \u201cin the piloting of a searchable, cloud-based longitudinal clinical record\u201d falls under a business associate agreement between the two organizations.\u201cThe clinical data shared with Google Health to pilot this application is protected by a series of layered security measures, including encryption, audit trails and limited permissions for who can access this data, all of which is controlled by Ascension,\u201d he added. \u201cClinical information remains in Ascension\u2019s private cloud environment, which is controlled, logged and monitored by Ascension.\u201d When it comes to protected health information, Conrado concluded that the \u201cPHI available to the Ascension and Google Health EHR Search pilot teams is limited to a subset of Ascension patients\u201d and that \u201cthe number of team members who access PHI, and the amount of that data that any team member accesses, is limited to what is necessary to complete their work.\u201dHowever, a January 11 WSJ article<\/a> reported that\u2014following the Journal\u2019s story last November\u2014Ascension subsequently \u201cnarrowed network access among its own staff and some at Google to information about Project Nightingale, people familiar with the matter say, adding that Ascension hasn\u2019t re-examined its Google ties.\u201dThe January 11 WSJ piece also noted that \u201cfederal investigators in the Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 Office of Civil Rights in recent weeks began interviewing people close to Project Nightingale as part of an inquiry into what regulators called the \u2018mass collection of individuals\u2019 medical records\u2019 and whether security or privacy were sacrificed.\u201d","saveContent":"David Feinberg, MD, head of Google Health, contends that the tech giant\u2019s partnership with St. Louis-based healthcare provider Ascension complies with regulations on the handling patient data.Speaking at last week\u2019s StartUp Health Festival in San Francisco, Feinberg told the conference that he\u2019s \u201csuper proud\u201d of Google\u2019s work with Ascension \u201cdespite what they say in the newspaper\u201d\u2014a reference to the Wall Street Journal,<\/i> which has raised concerns about the ways Google is collecting and analyzing the health information of millions of Ascension\u2019s patients.\u201cAscension chose us as a cloud provider for their records,\u201d said Feinberg. \u201cIn our cloud services, the information is encrypted in transit. It\u2019s encrypted at rest. We have no access to the information. I can\u2019t tell you how many medical records there are because we actually charge for storage space. Think of it as a warehouse. The only one that has the key to that record is Ascension.\u201dFeinberg added that \u201cthe press has made this into something that it\u2019s not.\u201dHowever, a Nov. 11, 2019, WSJ article<\/a> detailed Project Nightingale, a business partnership with Ascension that began in secret last year. The newspaper article charged that the tech giant is \u201camassing health records from Ascension facilities in 21 states\u201d for millions of Americans and that patients were not informed.\u201cNeither patients nor doctors have been notified,\u201d according to the WSJ. \u201cAt least 150 Google employees already have access to much of the data on tens of millions of patients.\u201dNonetheless, Feinberg insists that Google\u2019s dealings with Ascension are fully compliant with HIPAA and includes strong security and privacy measures for protecting patient records.\u201cThere may be times where Google employees are exposed to personal health information,\u201d Feinberg told the StartUp Health Festival. \u201cThose Google folks are trained in HIPAA. It\u2019s through a business associate agreement. Ascension has 600 business associate agreements.\u201dStill, according to the WSJ, some Ascension employees have raised questions about the methods by which the data is being collected and shared \u201cboth from a technological and ethical perspective.\u201dBut, in a January 11 blog<\/a>, Ascension\u2019s Chief Strategy and Innovations Officer Eduardo Conrado attempted to \u201cset the record straight\u201d on what is being done with Google to protect patient health information.\u201cOur privacy and data security practices are consistent with established HIPAA requirements, and we will continue to ensure that these are followed,\u201d wrote Conrado. \u201cIn short, our work with Google Health has adhered to the same standards of data privacy and security oversight we have used in our work over many years with numerous healthcare partners, including EHR, registry, payer and analytics vendors, as well as state and federal agencies.\u201d Conrado noted that Ascension\u2019s work with Google \u201cin the piloting of a searchable, cloud-based longitudinal clinical record\u201d falls under a business associate agreement between the two organizations.\u201cThe clinical data shared with Google Health to pilot this application is protected by a series of layered security measures, including encryption, audit trails and limited permissions for who can access this data, all of which is controlled by Ascension,\u201d he added. \u201cClinical information remains in Ascension\u2019s private cloud environment, which is controlled, logged and monitored by Ascension.\u201d When it comes to protected health information, Conrado concluded that the \u201cPHI available to the Ascension and Google Health EHR Search pilot teams is limited to a subset of Ascension patients\u201d and that \u201cthe number of team members who access PHI, and the amount of that data that any team member accesses, is limited to what is necessary to complete their work.\u201dHowever, a January 11 WSJ article<\/a> reported that\u2014following the Journal\u2019s story last November\u2014Ascension subsequently \u201cnarrowed network access among its own staff and some at Google to information about Project Nightingale, people familiar with the matter say, adding that Ascension hasn\u2019t re-examined its Google ties.\u201dThe January 11 WSJ piece also noted that \u201cfederal investigators in the Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 Office of Civil Rights in recent weeks began interviewing people close to Project Nightingale as part of an inquiry into what regulators called the \u2018mass collection of individuals\u2019 medical records\u2019 and whether security or privacy were sacrificed.\u201d","order":0,"get_parent":{},"attributes":[],"attributesType":{"content":{"type":"string","source":"raw"},"lock":{"type":"object"}},"dynamicContent":""}]

Feinberg defends Google’s patient data practices with Ascension

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