Technogiant announced the launch of a free Google cloud platform API Healthcare. It will be used for collecting and processing medical data of patients in the United States. These data will be able to use doctors, developers of medical applications and patients. Although Google assure us that will not use data on the health of users for commercial purposes.
Healthcare Google API is cloud storage of medical data and tools for analysis and processing. These include digital medical record, x-ray, x-ray and other scans, doctor’s orders, prescriptions and other information.
“API Healthcare is designed to store and access data on Google Cloud that provides the necessary link between the health system and the applications built on Google Cloud”, — stated in the message of the company.
In the US, where the healthcare system is not centralized, and medical services most of the population have private companies, commercial clinics, patient data can be stored separately in multiple organizations and databases.
The new platform allows you to collect them in one place and give access to different information systems — applications that use different clinics.
Combining data can be useful in combating the pandemic in the early stages, as experts will have access to the complete picture of the health status of a patient, and thus be able to evaluate the effectiveness of various methods of treatment.
“COVID-19 showed how important is the interoperability of medical data. People now understand that the only way to overcome the challenge is to cooperate. It is important that the new API from Google gives doctors and clinics the ability to communicate. It is not necessary to provide access to Google itself,” says John Halamka, head of the digital division of one of the largest US networks of clinics Mayo.
In addition, U.S. authorities are now more stringent requirements for hospitals in terms of openness of medical data for patients.
If earlier, the patient could refuse or grant access only on a paid basis, according to the new rules, which will come into force in two years, all information about the treatment must be opened for the client.