To present the study on trust in the use of health data in Germany and Israel conducted by the German Israeli Health Forums for Artificial Intelligence (GIHF-AI), the European Leadership Network (ELNET) organized a parliamentary breakfast in the German Bundestag on January 17. Hosted by Matthias Mieves MP, Prof. Ran Balicer, CIO & Deputy-DG at Clalit Health Services and Founding Director at Clalit Research Institute, and Dr. Yiska Weisband, Director of the Data Research Centers at Clalit Innovation, presented the results of the GIHF-AI Study 2023 The co-authors, Prof. Sylvia Thun, Director of the Core Unit eHealth and Interoperability at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité, and Dr. Alexander Schachinger, CEO of EPatient Analytics, shared their insights. In 2022, they had already conducted an independent study on handling health data among 5,000 German citizens, yielding similar outcomes. The GIHF-AI Study builds upon this investigation.
The results visibly surprised the guests. Obwohl Israel in puncto Digitalisierung des Gesundheitssystems Deutschland um Jahre voraus ist, ist das Vertrauen in die Nutzung von Gesundheitsdaten hierzulande ähnlich hoch wie in der Startup Nation: Matthias Mieves MP commented, “The results are surprising. In the Bundestag, you can get the impression that skeptics always set the tone. However, they are clearly not in the majority. Less than ten percent of Germans are outright refusers. That is legitimate but not indicative.”. Prof. Dr. Ran Balicer emphasized that the conclusion is very encouraging. In Israel, patients have been benefiting significantly from data-driven interventions for over a decade, and it seems that the public in Germany now overwhelmingly supports this as well.
Participants in the event included members of the committees for health and digitization, Dr. Susanne Ozegowski, Head of the Digitalization and Innovation Department at the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), Nick Schneider, Head of the Department on New Technologies and Data Use at the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), as well as representatives from the media.
Carsten Ovens, CEO, ELNET (DACH), summed up: “Data sharing is caring. Most Germans today agree and are willing to share their data with medicine and science – a huge opportunity for research and patient care. A call to action for politicians to further promote the use of data in medicine. Israel is an experienced partner here.”
To present the findings to more political, medical, scientific, and business stakeholders from the German health ecosystem, ELNET hosted an Afternoon Tea with the studies of the authors in its Berlin office the same day.
"It's great that most citizens are willing to share their data with doctors and scientists, which represents enormous progress for medical research and patient care."
