“Health Data Hub”, the health megafile suspended from the presidential election

• The health data platform project – or “Health Data Hub” – aims to bring together a large amount of data for research purposes. 

• Subject to many hazards, it was put on hold for the duration of the presidential campaign, a story for the government to avoid the controversies that surround it.

• What's happening with our health data?

  Is the project dead?

  Will he weigh down Emmanuel Macron's digital balance sheet?

  We take stock.

You have probably never heard of it and yet it is a megafile compiling several databases that has been the subject of negotiations and twists and turns for several months.

An immaterial space where the health information of French men and women would be grouped anonymously to facilitate research in the field of public health, in particular.

And where a very large piece, the National Health Data System (SNDS), which already includes data from Health Insurance and hospitals, would be donated.

Except that the "Health Data Hub" is turning into a ball and chain for the executive, who kicks into touch in this period of presidential campaign, without managing to completely extinguish the fire.

Turbulence, delays and postponements… the soap opera continues and we explain to you what you missed.

The birth of HDH

In 2018, when Cédric Villani, deputy then LREM, gave Emmanuel Macron his report on artificial intelligence, he suggested the establishment of a platform where a large part of the French health databases would be hosted at research purposes.

Never mind, the French government immediately seized on the idea and created, in 2019, the Health Data Hub, which was immediately violently criticized.

The reason ?

It is Microsoft, a company governed by American law and therefore subject to the extraterritorial laws of the said country, which is chosen to carry out this mega project, all without a call for tenders, as Cédric O admitted in front of senators.

In other words, the data hosted by Microsoft can be seized by the intelligence services or the authorities of the United States in certain specific cases of national security.

In the process, in 2020, European justice invalidates the legal framework of the Health Data Hub, refusing that the health data of European citizens can be transferred across the Atlantic.

For the Secretary of State for the Digital Transition, Cédric O, the choice fell on Microsoft in 2019 because it is the one that best meets technological needs.

Challenged by European justice, the government has backtracked and now defends the designation of a new “French or European” host.

But not before the presidential election.

“We do not want this strategic choice to be over-determined by political considerations, he justified a few weeks ago at

.

The current period is not serene enough.

»

In the meantime, the Health Data Hub lives on, supporting a few industrial and university research projects, requiring use authorizations from the Cnil on a case-by-case basis.

“The Health Data Hub still exists legally but it remains in pilot mode”, analyzed for

the deputy MoDem Philippe Latombe, specialist in the subject.

Without centralization of data, the process is long and so far, we are therefore talking about embryos of work.

The Health Data Hub is also working on data migration, without knowing, for the time being, what hosting solution will be chosen to succeed Microsoft's Azure.

Simple stoppage or beginning of agony?

The government wanted to avoid any controversy on the subject, which is why it put this Health Data Hub project on hold and chose to withdraw the application for authorization to operate from the Cnil in January.

The announcements of Cédric O, on January 20, assuring that the government would not launch a new call for tenders to replace Microsoft "before the presidential election", raises several questions.

#thread 1/6

To operate the @HealthDataHub needs @cnil permission to operate.

The request was finally withdrawn by the government @Sante_Gouv.

The @HealthDataHub therefore has no legal existence.

The project is surely on hold until the elections.

— InterHop (@interchu) January 7, 2022

The first was addressed by Catherine Morin-Desailly, senator of the Centrist Union and adviser in charge of digital to Valérie Pécresse, during questions to the government on January 19: "Can we hope for a review of this project or is the government backing down during the campaign?

The second concerns the budget for this project

at the time, the cabinet of the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn, had announced an envelope of 80 million euros over four years.

Since then, no communication has been made on the evolution of the budget.

And the excuse of the global coronavirus epidemic was posed as a justice of the peace: “The legal services and the administration of the Ministry of Health have limited time available due to the Covid-19 crisis”, a assured Cédric O in the

, on January 20.

Of which act.

Strengthen national and European digital sovereignty

A sign of the crucial nature of the hosting of sensitive data, the government launched in May 2021 the “

at the center” strategy for all new public IT projects.

The objective: to repatriate the data to Europe.

Exit the United States and China in particular.

With 100% European hosts, the government wishes to have collaborative solutions and efficient and secure digital tools.

To meet these expectations, Capgemini and Orange have launched “Bleu”, a new host, which meets the requirements of the “

at the center” label, nevertheless developed in partnership with Microsoft, which will offer them licenses for its technologies.

Bleu's data centers will be "strictly separated from Microsoft's international data centers, which will guarantee their operational autonomy", say Capgemini and Orange.

Bleu must also be “operated from France by its own staff”.

A first step towards transferring the Health Data Hub to this hybrid host?

Not sure, Cédric O having declared on January 20 that there could be “several providers” for the management of the health data platform.

The soap opera is definitely not over.

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• Presidential election 2022

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