Inside STAT: Contract offers unprecedented look at Google deal to obtain patient data from UCSF

(ALEX HOGAN/ STAT)

The University of California, San Francisco, and Google struck up a deal almost four years ago in which the hospital system would share patient data with the tech giant. Google's proposition: The data would help the company design algorithms to help UCSF better predict which patients were likely to be readmitted to hospital and which ones would die there, predictions that could help UCSF better hedge health costs and improve treatment. STAT has now obtained a copy of that deal, which offers an unprecedented look at how such patient data sharing agreements have been written up. What's striking is that Google's deals with other health systems have generated controversy over possible privacy violations, but in contrast, its contract with UCSF shows just how much the hospital system has thought about protecting patient privacy. STAT Plus subscribers can read more from STAT's Rebecca Robbins here.