Our bodies, our data : how companies make billions selling our medical records / Adam Tanner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tanner, Adam, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Medical records--Data processing.

Medical records.

Confidential communications.

Data mining.

Electronic Health Records.

Confidentiality.

Data Mining.

Medical informatics.

Medical Subjects:

Electronic Health Records.

Confidentiality.

Data Mining.

Physical Description:

218 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston, Massachusetts : Beacon Press, [2017]

Summary:

Hidden from consumers, patient medical data has become a multibillion-dollar worldwide trade between our health-care providers, drug companies, and a complex web of middlemen. This great medical-data bazaar sells copies of our prescriptions, hospital records, insurance claims, blood-test results, and more, stripped of names but still containing identifiers such as year of birth, gender, and doctor. As computing grows ever more sophisticated, patient dossiers are increasingly vulnerable to re-identification, which could make them a target for identity thieves or hackers. Paradoxically, comprehensive electronic files for patient treatment-a key reason medical data exists in the first place-remain an elusive goal. Even today, patients and their doctors rarely have easy access to full records that could improve care. In the evolution of medical data, the instinct for profit has outstripped patient needs. This book reveals the previously hidden story of how such a system evolved internationally. ...This investigative narrative seeks to spark debate on how we can best balance the promise big data offers to advance medicine and improve lives, while preserving the rights and interests of every patients. We, the patients, deserve a say in this discussion. After all, it's our data.-- Book jacket.

Contents:

What the pharmacy knows

Data bonanza for pharmacies and middlemen

The covert alliance

Patient power

The dossier on your doctor

Supreme Court battle

Studying patients over time

Fighting for patients

How safe is "anonymized"?

Korean War over patient data

The patient's data tower of babel

21st century advances

Intimate, anonymized, and for sale

At the bottom of Niagara.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Tanner, Adam, author. Our bodies, our data.

ISBN:

9780807033340

0807033340

OCLC:

946104059