Matt Fisher writes:
….. A recent expose from Stat News on the MarketScan database is throwing more light onto the issue. Reading the full article is highly recommended. For a brief summary though, the database began to be compiled in the early 1980s with the aim of giving companies more insight into healthcare use to enable better control over healthcare costs. The database kept growing as the originating company brought on more customers, which ultimately resulted in incorporating information about roughly 270 million individuals. The data were aggregated and de-identified. Per the individual who came up with the idea for the database and started it, he intended for the information to be treated very carefully and held with strong protections. To that end, the database was subject to a number of security controls and efforts to maintain privacy.
Read more at The Pulse.