Amy Mitchell-Whittington reports: More than half a million healthcare professionals are sharing their medical cases via an app likened to an Instagram for doctors, but grave concerns are held for patient privacy and confidentiality. The app, Figure 1, was set up in 2013 and is a platform for healthcare professionals to upload and share images of medical cases…
Category: Healthcare
Ca: Data privacy rules hamper health sector: Les Leyne
Les Leyne writes: It’s been more than a decade since the B.C. government responded to a rush of concern about personal information being exposed to U.S. security snoops by outlawing the transfer of provincial data across the border. The extraordinary scope of the post-9-11 USA PATRIOT Act, which gave U.S. anti-terrorist agencies open access to…
At Walgreens and CVS, a push to collect customer health data by dangling discounts
Rebecca Robbins reports: Want $50 off your next purchase at Walgreens? You’ll have to run 2,000 miles. Or step on a scale 2,000 times. Or take 2,000 readings of your blood glucose level. And you’ll have to let the global pharmacy chain track all that data — and give them permission to mine it to…
Health data from wearable devices could be restricted under new EU regulation
Rhiannon Williams reports: A law firm has called on EU regulators to rethink the impact of the forthcoming European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on data generated by health trackers and other wearables, including the Apple Watch, Fitbit and Garmin fitness bands. Osborne Clarke claims the new law, set to come in force from 2018, will stifle innovation in the…