AcademyHealth, with support from The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, is funding health services research projects to understand the potential and challenges of using internet search data to improve diagnosis. The goal of this study is to address ethical, clinical workflow and technical challenges to the use of internet use data to personalize care, prevent new illnesses, and reduce adverse events. Building on the experience of a psychiatry ‘digital’ clinic, which already integrates smartphone digital phenotyping data into care, the researchers will integrate Google Takeout data into care in an ethical and optional manner. First, they will conduct focus groups with patients, clinicians, and administrators to create informed consent and educational materials about the uses of the data. Second, they will integrate Google Takeout data into a depression/anxiety clinic by updating clinician training, treatment manuals/procedures, Digital Navigator Training, and patient reports. Third, they will conduct additional structured interviews with clinicians and 50 consenting patients after discharge from the clinic about the impact of Google Takeout data on care.  Through this work, the project will develop an ethical framework for further research on this topic, assess how Google Takeout data can improve clinical predictions, and update training and clinical procedures to integrate this data into patient care. Deliverables will include a project work plan, narrative and financial reports, and a range of products to reach clinicians, policymakers and other audiences for study findings.

Principal Investigator(s)

John_Torous_headshot

John Torous, M.D., M.B.I.

Director, Digital Psychiatry Division - Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC)

John Torous, M.D., M.B.I. is director of the digital psychiatry division, in the Department of Psychiatry at B... Read Bio