News Item – ‘No blanket approval’ to use personal health data in research, focus groups say

Big Data has been called medicine’s future, with predictions that artificial intelligence helping researchers sift through every blood pressure, every ECG and MRI looking for cures. But there are fears that data mining is ripe for misuse. A survey published today in CMAJ Open asked the public to weigh in.

ICES is an independent, not-for-profit research institute in Ontario. Since 1992, the institute has been sifting through health-care data derived from the nearly 14 million people who live in the province. Every visit to the doctor or clinic, every lab test or X-ray, and every hospital admission produces data that is collected by the province. The data helps the province manage, administer and pay for health care services.

Full article at: CBC News