Healthcare data may be valuable to researchers and companies, but patients' comfort levels about having their data shared may depend on the purpose, a new survey suggests. Using health data and information for research was more appropriate than for marketing regardless of whether they were asked for permission or not, most people felt. "What we found is that consumers care a lot about how their health information is used," said Dr. David Grande, the study's lead researcher from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. "What's surprising is they care more about what it's being used for than whether consent was obtained."
