What do you think of the mass exploitation of health data? Until June 20, 2016, Internet users can give their opinion online on the government website faire-simple.gouv.fr (now inactive) about the “big data” in health. Indeed, the exploitation and sharing of health data are on the program of the health law led by Minister Marisol Touraine and adopted in December 2015. The purpose of this measure: to use a large amount of information made anonymous such as prescriptions, social security reimbursements or data recorded by electronic wristbandsfor “better understand the links between health and physical activity or the environment“or for”detect the emergence of diseases earlier“, according to the government website.
A risk to privacy?
This mass information, gathered in an immense database, are major assets for medical research but raise ethical questions in terms of respect for privacy. “Some underline the risk of seeing this data used to develop commercial, insurance (or other) practices perceived as intrusive, or even discriminatory.” reveals the Ministry of Health. The public consultation allows everyone to give their opinion, to share their concerns but also to propose ideas for carrying out this project. A summary of the results of this consultation will be available at the end of June 2016. In the long term, the Health law provides for the creation of a national health data system (SNDS) which would bring together each year the information of more than a billion treatment forms, 500 million acts medical conditions and 11 million hospitalizations.
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