Project Nightingale is a data storage and processing project by

Google Cloud Google Cloud Platform offers numerous integrated cloud-computing services, including compute, network, and storage. Products Past and present products under the Google Cloud platform include: Current * Google Cloud Datastore, a NoSQL databa ...

and Ascension, a Catholic health care system comprising a chain of 2,600 hospitals, doctors' offices and other related facilities, in 21 states, with tens of millions of patient records available for processing health care data. Ascension is one of the largest health-care systems in the United States with comprehensive and specific health care information of millions who are part of its system. The project is Google's attempt to gain a foothold into the healthcare industry on a large scale.

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

and

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

are also actively advancing into health care, but none of their business arrangements are equal in scope to Project Nightingale.

History

In early 2019, Ascension began talks with Google about developing health aggregation software to store and search medical records. The two companies signed a

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA or the Kennedy– Kassebaum Act) is a United States Act of Congress enacted by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1 ...

(HIPAA) business associate agreement, which would allow Ascension to transfer patient data to Google Cloud, and would bar Google from using this data for purposes other than providing services to Ascension. Google first mentioned its project with Ascension in a July 2019 earnings call, which said the partnership was meant to "improve the healthcare experience and outcomes." ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' first reported on "Project Nightingale" on November 11, 2019, writing that doctors and patients had not been notified of the project and that 150 Google employees had access to patient data. Google Health chief David Feinberg responded to the report in a blog post, saying all employees with access to protected health information went through medical ethics training and were approved by Ascension. The project raised privacy fears because of Google's involvement in other privacy controversies, like DeepMind's medical data-sharing controversy and a lawsuit against Google and the

University of Chicago Medical Center The University of Chicago Medical Center (UChicago Medicine) is a nationally ranked academic medical center located in Hyde Park on the South Side of Chicago. It is the flagship campus for The University of Chicago Medicine system and was establi ...

for allegedly processing identifying medical records. Google Cloud executive Tariq Shaukat wrote that patient data gathered from the project "cannot and will not be combined with any Google consumer data."

Types of data

The data sharing includes patient names and their dates of birth, along with doctor diagnoses, lab results, and hospitalization records, amounting to access to complete

electronic health records An electronic health record (EHR) is the systematized collection of patient and population electronically stored health information in a digital format. These records can be shared across different health care settings. Records are shared throu ...

. Also included in the data sharing are addresses of the patient, family members,

allergies Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic dermat ...

immunizations Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an infectious agent (known as the immunogen). When this system is exposed to molecules that are foreign to the body, called ''non-se ...

, radiology scans, medications, and

medical conditions A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

. After the patient checks in to the doctor's office, or hospital, or senior center - the doctor and nurse examination results are entered into a computer and uploaded to Google's cloud servers. At this point, the system is then used to suggest treatment plans, recommend replacement or removal of a doctor from the patient's health-care team, and administer policies on narcotics. Ascension, the company sharing data with Google, may also vary their billing according to treatment or procedures.

Investigations

Soon after ''The Wall Street Journal'' reported on Project Nightingale, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' published an account from an anonymous whistleblower who worked on Project Nightingale. This person who raised concerns that patients could not opt in or out of having their records stored on Google's servers, and that the project may not be HIPAA compliant. The

United States Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

(HHS) launched an inquiry into Google's partnership with Ascension. The investigation will be run by HHS' Office of Civil Rights. Director

Roger Severino Roger Thomas Severino is an American attorney who served as the director of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the United States Department of Health and Human Services from 2017 to 2021. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public ...

said, his office "would like to learn more information about this mass collection of individuals' medical records with respect to the implications for patient privacy under [the

of 1996 or HIPAA]."

References

External links

Our Partnership with Ascension

blog post and FAQ {{Google LLC 2019 establishments in the United States 2019 controversies in the United States Healthcare in the United States Catholic health care Code names Google Cloud Electronic health records Medical controversies in the United States Projects established in 2019

History

Types of data

Investigations

See also

References

External links