Big Data & Healthcare Event

Speaker information

Professor Timo Minssen,University of Copenhagen,Director, Centre for Advanced Studies in Biomedical Innovation Law (CeBIL) Fair data sharing & data caring the digitilised era: aspirations, realities and legal clashes in the health and life sciences. Abstract: The huge prospects of Big Data, advanced machine learning and AI, as well as the shift to more “personalized”, “open” and “transparent” innovation models stress the importance of an effective governance, regulation and stimulation of shareable data-applications in the health & life sciences. Yet, cutting edge medical innovation requires more than freely available big data and machine-generated data. Pushing the boundaries of biomedical research also demands smart data and high quality data that are created and nourished through human intervention and considerable investments in an highly competitive environment. Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and related rights come into play when data producers protect their investment in such data. Moreover, EU data protection rules, such as the GDPR, may prevent the sharing of valuable data that is considered to be personal data. While the need of recalibrating IPRs and data protection rights to fully support “big and smart data” advances is being intensely debated, there seems to be much confusion about the availability of such rights and their legal effects. This presentation provides a very brief overview on selected areas that demonstrate emerging tensions at the interface of Big Data, Standardization, data protection, IPRs and Competition/Antitrust Law.

Duncan Minty,Duncan is the founder of the Ethics and Insurance blog and the author of its many posts,He's a Chartered Insurance Practitioner, having worked 18 years in the UK market. As an adviser to many firms on ethics issues, as well as a regular conference speaker, he is one of the leading voices on ethics and insurance. The Changing Nature of Insurance Markets Abstract: Insurance markets are changing in ways that raise fundamental questions about the nature of insurance and its role in society. Long held principles are being questioned, as data, devices and analytics transform the sector. This presentation will provide an overview of those key changes and their implications for the life/health insurance markets.

Professor James Davey ,Professor of Contract and Commercial Law, University of Southampton ‘Equality, Efficiency & Health Insurance in the Optimisation Era’ This is an introductory scoping paper on a future research agenda on the regulation of private healthcare and other financial services in light of ‘big data’. The application of sophisticated data analytics creates two threats / opportunities in the private health and life insurance sphere. First, the possibility of personalised pricing, separated from the traditional concept of risk assessment, by which insurers price products according to predictions about what this consumer is prepared to pay. Whilst this might look like the standard operation of market forces, insurers have privileged access to potentially discriminatory risk factors on the basis that their pricing structures are scientific (actuarial) and not market driven. Second, in the provision of personalised claims settlement, by which reduced levels of services are offered to claimants most likely to settle. This raises questions of the efficiency of ‘skimped performance’ of contractual duties. The combined effect is to challenge law’s fundamental assumptions about the operation of insurance as service and as contract. This represents substantial challenges to regulators: 1.to identify the acceptable limits of capitalist behaviour, and 2.to design effective enforcement mechanisms.

Zhong Wang,Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, China,Research Associate Professor Data Integration of Electronic Medical Record under Administrative Decentralization of Medical Insurance and Healthcare in China. Abstract: In most areas of China, Electronic Medical Record(EMR) systems in hospitals are developed in an isolated manner. Medical Insurance and Healthcare Administration gather data respectively for their management functions without information sharing. Segmentation of data resources is serious. Despite the government's repeated emphasis on EMR data integration, little progress has been made. This brings not only inconvenience to patients, but also barriers to data mining. This exploratory investigation conducts a case study to identify bottlenecks of data integration and propose countermeasures. Interviews were carried out with 27 practitioners from central and provincial governments, hospitals, as well as related enterprises in China. It shows that lacking the patient's authorization to EMR data collection poses a huge hazard to the integration. In addition, non-uniform information standards and hospitals’ unwillingness to share data are also the main obstacles to integration. Moreover, friction caused by separated administration, as well as unsustainability of public finance investment also hinder the integration of data resources. To solve these problems, firstly, a multi-stakeholder protocol for data collection should be improved. Administrative authorities then should co-establish information standards and data audit mechanism. Finally, expanding data integration for agglomerative effectiveness, and adopting the Public-Private Partnerships model are proposed.

Alison Knight,Data Governance Lead and Legal Compliance at University of Southampton, University of Southampton. ‘Health Data Analytics and the EU General Data Protection Regulation: It’s not a choice between privacy and innovation.' Abstract: The General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (GDPR), applying from 25 May, requires a new risk-based approach to personal data processing and data protection. One of the areas that it will impact is the evolving use of data analytics in the healthcare sector. Achieving the correct balance between the data protection rights of individuals while not impeding innovation is not easy, but it is critical in the modern digital age. This talk will highlight a few of the key lessons that can be learnt from the 2016 Google Deep Mind / Royal Free decision in which the UK Information Commissioner’s Office found that data protection rules had been breached. It will also suggest a dynamic approach to good data governance that organisations engaged in the analytics innovation process can adopt to help ensure compliance with the practical impact of the GDPR.

Dr Sophie Stalla-Bourdillon,Associate Professor in IT law. University of Southampton, Moderator.

Prof Hedvig Schmidt,Associate Professor in EU and Competition Law, Chair