NDIL Opinion Tossing Patient Privacy Class Action Offers Lessons Learned On Using De-identified Data

Last month, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed a lawsuit brought by Matt Dinerstein, on behalf of a class, against The University of Chicago and The University of Chicago Medical (collectively "the University") and Google for allegedly violating federal and state health privacy laws. The Court found that Dinerstein lacked standing to pursue one claim and failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

The University and Google partnered to research and develop artificial intelligence products designed to create predictive health models aimed at reducing hospital readmissions and anticipating future medical events. As part of this research, the University transferred "de-identified" electronic health records of all adult patients who were treated at the University from 2010 to 2016 to Google.