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 Google and Ascension, which operates 150 hospitals and more than 50
senior living facilities across the United States, said the
healthcare provider would move some data and analytics tools in its
facilities to Google's servers.
The deal was mentioned in Google's July earnings call, but drew
scrutiny on Monday after the Wall Street Journal reported https://on.wsj.com/2q3WCer
that Google would gain personal health-related information of
millions of Americans across 21 states.
The Journal reported that the data involved in the project includes
lab results, doctor diagnoses and hospitalization records, among
other categories, and amounts to a complete health history, along
with patient names and dates of birth.
Google said in a blog post on Monday that patient data "cannot and
will not be combined with any Google consumer data."
Ascension "are the stewards of the data, and we provide services on
their behalf," wrote Tariq Shaukat, president for industry products
and solutions at Google Cloud.
In a press release, Ascension said the partnership is in compliance
with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)
which safeguards medical information.
Google Cloud Chief Executive Officer Thomas Kurian has made it a
priority in his first year on the job to aggressively chase business
from leaders in six industries, including healthcare.
The company previously touted smaller healthcare clients, such as
the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine.
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Though cloud storage is a business with thinning profit margins,
Google Cloud has said it hopes to separate itself from larger rivals
Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services with a superior slate of
high-margin AI tools.
Ascension said it aims to use AI to help improve clinical
effectiveness as well as patient safety.
Google's blog post did not mention AI, but said the companies were
in "early testing" on how to make better use of Ascension's data.
Google has spent several years developing artificial intelligence to
automatically analyze MRI scans and other patient data to identify
diseases and make predictions aimed at improving outcomes and
reducing cost.
The news follows an earlier announcement from Google that it would
buy Fitbit Inc <FIT.N> for $2.1 billion, aiming to enter the
wearables segment and invest in digital health.
(Reporting by Paresh Dave in San Francisco and Ambhini Aishwarya in
Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Christopher Cushing)
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