Healthcare data may become much more accessible to researchers, companies, physicians, and citizens of Ontario in the near future as a result of a new platform titled “Project Spark”. The project was initiated by the MaRS Discovery District and Canada’s University Health Network, and has the goal of creating an API that will allow developers to request information from the government’s healthcare data.
If successful, Project Spark would be able to generate an app giving Ontarians access to their health to their health records at any time and document any health complications immediately. This app would also be available to physicians, enabling them to easily access the full medical history of a new patient.
Being that all medical expenses in Canada are subsidized by the government, a very large, centralized database of electronic health records is in possession of Ontario’s government. Many other governments do not have this at their disposure, with scattered records resulting from visits to multiple doctor’s offices, labs, and other healthcare organizations. Using this advantage, physicians of Ontario would be able to eliminate the hunt for elusive records, as well as malpractice due to unknown allergies, if Project Spark were successful.
Making health records more readily available has its obvious advantages, but turning them into commodities could invade citizens privacies as well. Potentially sharing personal details of a patient’s history that they would rather not publicize may be a shortcoming of this system.
“Digital information is easy to copy and reuse outside of its intended purpose, so I hope the initiative takes data security and privacy very seriously,” – Christian Catalini, Professor at MIT
Currently, medical records in Ontario are in a very secure database that strictly dictates who has access to information. If the government does not take careful action to protect patient records and data is given to the wrong companies, the consequences would be severe.
A stolen social security number is estimated to be worth 10 cents on the black market, where as your health records could be worth up to $1,000. This means your health records are potentially worth 100,000 times more than your identity! More accessible health records could have great benefit, however it’s understandable why critics are skeptical of Project Spark.
Your health records in the hands of medical professionals and researchers? Sounds fine.
But your health records in the hands of corporations? Now that’s cause for concern.
What’s your thoughts?#onpoli #cdnpoli #CDNhealth https://t.co/kRYoo8u3V7
— Progress Canada ?? (@Progresscdn) June 20, 2018
Sources: Futurism, Forbes, Quartz
Ontario plans to let companies access a database of patient health records
All the diseases we’ve ever had; the medications we took to treat them; our genetic condition; the results of any test, scan, or swab to which we’ve ever been subjected. Our medical histories are packed with tremendous value. In the right, thoughtful hands, these records could help researchers better understand the connections between genetics, diet, disease, and health.
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