Facebook wanted hospitals to share patient data

Facebook had been discussing a data sharing project with hospitals and medical groups to match patient data with socioeconomic information from Facebook profiles, but CNBC reports the project has been put on hold as the social network faces scrutiny over how it collects and shares data on its users.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to CNBC the project existed but has “not progressed past the planning phase” and no one’s data has been “received, shared or analyzed.” But it had begun talking to major health organizations, with CNBC specifically mentioning the Stanford Medical School and the American College of Cardiology (ACC).

The proposal involved using a computer science technique called “hashing” to match individuals which existed in both data sets while obscuring identifiable information like the patient’s name. Its initial focus would have been on cardiovascular health. Facebook provided CNBC a quote from ACC’s interim CEO, Cathleen Gates, praising the project.

"For the first time in history, people are sharing information about themselves online in ways that may help determine how to improve their health,” Gates said. “As part of its mission to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health, the American College of Cardiology has been engaged in discussions with Facebook around the use of anonymized Facebook data, coupled with anonymized ACC data, to further scientific research on the ways social media can aid in the prevention and treatment of heart disease—the No. 1 cause of death in the world. This partnership is in the very early phases as we work on both sides to ensure privacy, transparency and scientific rigor. No data has been shared between any parties.”

Notably, CNBC reported the issue of patients consenting to this use of their data didn’t come up in the early discussions. The project has been paused as Facebook deals with the Cambridge Analytica data leak scandal.

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