Effort to Link Millions of Patient Health Records Raises Privacy Concerns

Government-funded scientists are connecting "terabytes of patient medical records" at 11 sites across the country, The Washington Post reports. The result would be possibly the largest repository of medical information in the country, containing the medical information of 26 million to 30 million Americans. The new repository also raises privacy and propietary concerns, presenting "tricky ethical questions about who owns and controls the data, how to protect patient privacy and how research questions will be prioritized," The Post also reports.

"'The raw data is not what is being shared. That remains with the institution that the patient trusts,' said Devon McGraw, director of the health privacy project for the Center for Democracy and Technology," The Post further reports.

The project arises out of a Affordable Care Act provision  to create an independent nonprofit to help doctors and patients make better-informed decisions about their care, The Post further reports.