There’s a war for your data, and health care is next

Existing policy doesn’t factor in technological evolution, meaning there’s little recourse for consumers if personal health information is used for commercial purposes.

The information accumulated by doctors, pharmacists, and hospitals is stored in digital health systems and can provide a basis for decisions about care, authorize payment for those services, and, in its de-identified form, help inform greater policy decisions for the health-care system. But with technological evolution, it could also be used for commercial purposes in future, if privacy policies don’t keep up. U.S. Air Force photograph by Tech. Sgt. Larry E. Reid Jr.

Opinion

BY ABIGAIL CARTER-LANGFORD

November 15, 2018

As consumers, we are constantly being encouraged to reveal all manner of data and detail about ourselves. When the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook data scandal exploded into the news headlines, it put into focus what we as consumers are, likely unknowingly, sharing about ourselves and how that same dat...

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