Thereīs a booming business in patient medical records and up to five million Ontarians are part of that boom, whether they know it or not.As doctors and pharmacies across the province have switched from paper charts to electronic medical records (EMRs), a company saw a business opportunity.One of the companies that sells and supports EMR software in primary care practices in Ontario is also selling health data on the side. The company anonymizes the data - strips names and other identifying information from the health records - and then sells it to IQVIA, a U.S.-based health data giant. IQVIA describes the process but does not name the EMR company selling the data in its promotional documents.IQVIAīs main customer is the pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceutical companies use the EMR data to track use of their drugs, identify untapped markets and plot marketing strategies.Physicians, or the clinics they work for, must consent to the sale of anonymized patient data. Itīs unclear, however, if physicians are making money from the sales, or if the profits go to the EMR company. There is no legal obligation to tell patients about, or to compensate patients for, the sale of their anonymized data.The system operates in a grey zone of privacy rules. Once patient health information is anonymized, it is no longer covered by the privacy laws in Canada.Read more: Companies should get `meaningful consentī for user data, privacy watchdog saysDoctors use this software during patient visits. Now Big Pharma is tapping it to sell their drugsHoskins will `express concernsī about patient record software being used to sell drugsThis practice, however, raises several concerns, including the risk of re-identification of individuals in the anonymized data and the lack of active monitoring by a regulator. It is also concerning that this resource could be used for public good - for example, determining the prevalence of depression in certain patient groups - and is instead captured for pri ...
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