Facebook solicited information about hospital patients for a research project exploring how data might improve patient care, according to CNBC.
Here are nine insights.
1. Facebook asked "several major U.S. hospitals" and health organizations — including Stanford (Calif.) Medical School — for anonymized data about patients, such as illnesses, prescription information and hospital visit frequency.
2. The social media company sought to combine this information with user data it had collected through its platform, which could include a user's age, marriage status, primary language and online engagement.
3. Using a computer science technique called "hashing," Facebook would match individuals who were included in both sets of information to help hospitals determine if patients needed special care or treatment.
4. The project would initially focus on how the data could improve cardiovascular health. For example, it could be used to discover an elderly patient doesn't have many friends nearby and inform a health system's decision to send a nurse to check up on the patient after surgery, according to anonymous sources who had signed confidentiality agreements with Facebook.
5. Facebook provided a quote from The American College of Cardiology's Interim CEO Cathleen Gates to CNBC. She said the organization "has been engaged in discussions with Facebook around the use of anonymized Facebook data, coupled with anonymized ACC data, to further scientific research on the ways social media can aid in the prevention and treatment of heart disease — the #1 cause of death in the world."
6. The exploratory effort has not progressed past the planning phase and nobody's data has been shared or analyzed, Facebook told CNBC. The company decided last month to focus on "other important work, including doing a better job of protecting people's data and being clearer with them about how that data is used in our products and services."
7. The project could create issues regarding patient consent, said health policy experts interviewed by CNBC.
"Consumers wouldn't have assumed their data would be used in this way," said Aneesh Chopra, president of the health software company CareJourney and former White House chief technology officer. "If Facebook moves ahead (with its plans), I would be wary of efforts that repurpose user data without explicit consent."
8. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress this week about the company's practices, following reports that the political research organization Cambridge Analytica abused the data of 87 million Facebook users.
9. Facebook's other healthcare-related activities have included a campaign to promote organ donation through its platform and petitioning pharmaceutical companies to invest in targeted ads for users who like particular pages or fit certain demographic profiles.