Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1203108
30 CIO / HEALTH IT Dr. David Feinberg responds to criticism of Ascension, Google project By Mackenzie Garrity T he head of Google Health, David Fein- berg, MD, responded with more clarity on what the tech giant and St. Lou- is-based Ascension are doing with Project Nightingale in a November 2019 blog post. "ere as been a lot of interest around our collaboration with Ascension," Dr. Feinberg said. "As a physician, I understand. Health is incredibly personal, and your health informa- tion should be private to you and the people providing your care." With data from Ascension, Google plans to build an intelligence suite of tools to help cli- nicians take better care of patients. Google is using patients' data to design soware that leverages artificial technology and machine learning to make suggestions in patients' treatment plans. In further detail, Ascension said the part- nership with Google aims to modernize the health system's infrastructure, improve com- munication and collaboration and explore artificial learning to boost clinical quality. Specifically, the health system hopes to mine patient data to then identify tests that could be necessary. Ascension is also looking to im- prove its EHR system. However, Google has been criticized for se- cretly collecting data on millions of patients. Although Ascension employees have ques- tioned the ethical and technological ways Google is gathering data, privacy experts said it appears to be acceptable under federal law. "As we noted in an earlier post, our work ad- heres to strict regulations on handling patient data, and our Business Associate Agreement with Ascension ensures their patient data cannot be used for any other purpose than for providing our services — this means it's never used for advertising. We've also pub- lished a white paper around how customer data is encrypted and isolated in the cloud," Dr. Feinberg said. Google has developed and tested its system with fake data. Additionally, only a limited number of screened and qualified Google staff members may have access to patient data. Technical controls have also been put in place to keep patient data safe, Dr. Fein- berg said. Before joining Google Health, Dr. Feinberg served as the CEO of Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger and CEO of UCLA Health. n Mayo Clinic taps UnitedHealthcare exec as 1st chief digital officer By Andrea Park M ayo Clinic appointed Rita Khan to serve as the Rochester, Minn.-based health system's chief digital officer, a newly created role in which she will lead the launch of a new cen- ter for digital health, according to a December 2019 news release. Ms. Khan will guide Mayo Clinic's digital strategy, including prepar- ing the health system for digital transformation and implement- ing a business plan and system of standards that align with Mayo Clinic's existing culture and values. This work will also include the establishment of the Mayo Clinic Center for Digital Health. Prior to joining the health system, Ms. Khan served as senior Vice President of consumer digital at UnitedHealthcare. Before transitioning into the healthcare industry, she held product-fo- cused roles at Digital River, Best Buy, Macy's and Target. "I'm excited to align my deep background in retail, and most recently healthcare, to focus on consumer experience, product design and digital with an organization whose values I share — grounded in always putting the consumer first," Ms. Khan said in the release. "Mayo Clinic was founded on the belief that the needs of the patient comes first. I look forward to helping ad- vance that commitment as we expand our digital solutions for the people we serve." n NYU cardiologist sues Apple over smartwatch AFib detection By Andrea Park A lawsuit filed in federal court in New York City on Dec. 27, 2019, by Joseph Wiesel, MD, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Health, claimed the Apple Watch's irregular heartbeat monitoring tool infringes on a patent he holds for similar technol- ogy, Bloomberg reported. In the filing, Dr. Wiesel reportedly said his patented invention took "pioneering steps" in creating a sys- tem for atrial fibrillation detection based on monitor- ing "irregular pulse rhythms from a success of time intervals." He filed the lawsuit to receive royalties from Apple for its use of the alleged copycat technol- ogy and to prevent Apple from using the technology without his permission. Dr. Wiesel claimed in the lawsuit that he first provided Apple with detailed information about his patent in September 2017, Bloomberg reported, but that the company has "refused to negotiate in good faith to avoid this lawsuit." Apple did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comment. n