The French government is encouraging citizens to get involved in the debate on sharing and using of healthcare data. A public survey and two workshops were organised, in May and June. The results are to be used for a conference on 4 July.
The first workshop, in May, drew 17 participants, reports SGMAP (Secrétariat Général pour la Modernisation de l’Action publique), the government modernisation unit. It was followed by an online session and a second workshop in June.
Over the past weeks, SGMAP also hosted an online consultation, asking for ideas on what to do with healthcare data, and how to regulate its use.
Citizens’ think tanks
The government wants to organise more such workshops, aimed to boost citizen participation in government policy-making. The workshops on big date in healthcare were the first.
Last September, France’s Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Marisol Touraine, appointed a think tank on the challenges of big data in the field of healthcare. Policy recommendations of the group of experts are expected after the summer.
The results of the two citizens workshops will be delivered to the minister at the Big Data in Healthcare symposium on 4 July.
More information:
Big data in health care citizens workshop (in French)
Big data in health care symposium (in French)