Millions of Canadians’ health data available for sale to pharmaceutical industry, study shows [Video]

Going to the doctor can involve sharing your most personal information, including details about your health, medical history and prescriptions. 

It all ends up in your medical record — but a new study by researchers at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto found that in some cases, private companies are accessing parts of that data and selling it to pharmaceutical companies. 

“This is really an area where we need transparency,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Sheryl Spithoff.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, examined how the medical record industry works in Canada and how patient data flows between different private entities.  

Through a series of 19 interviews, the researchers concluded “chains of for-profit primary care clinics, physicians, commercial data brokers and pharmaceutical companies … work together to convert patient medical records into commercial assets.”

Those assets, the study said, are then used to “further the interests of the pharmaceutical companies.”

Spithoff and her colleagues identified …