INOVAIT publishes framework for responsibly unlocking Canadian health data for innovation and better patient care

TORONTO, Feb. 5, 2025 /CNW/ - INOVAIT, the Canadian image-guided therapy (IGT) and artificial intelligence (AI) network, has released a new framework titled "Data Mobilization: Principles for safely and ethically harnessing Canadian health data to unlock innovation, economic growth, and better patient care".

Industry members in the INOVAIT Network are developing AI technologies that are revolutionizing the diagnosis and treatment of disease and improving patient outcomes while building the Canadian healthcare economy. The health data these companies need to create their technologies most often reside with Canadian healthcare institutions that are reluctant to share data with commercial partners due to caution stemming from a lack of clarity in privacy legislation and historical practices focused primarily on minimizing privacy and security risks. 

INOVAIT's proposed Principles for Safe, Ethical, and Trustworthy Canadian Health Data Licensing are a framework for healthcare institutions to confidently and responsibly engage in health data licensing with ethical private sector partners. These principles recognize the value of health data for bettering the health and well-being of Canadians while being grounded in transparency, ethical and responsible practices, patient and public representation, well-defined governance and oversight, and Indigenous data sovereignty rights and engagement.

This framework is the result of multi-disciplinary consultation with experts in ethics, privacy, clinical care, industry, Indigenous health, patient advocacy, health technology, and data governance, including a recent roundtable with two dozen health data leaders from six different provinces.

"The data generated in Canada's large public healthcare systems provides an important opportunity for Canadian innovators to lead the development of AI-enabled technologies that assist in diagnosing and treating patients while keeping costs affordable enough for high-quality care for all," said Brian Courtney and Idan Roifman, cardiologists and clinician-scientists at Sunnybrook Research Institute and co-Chair's of INOVAIT's Health Data Sharing & Governance Working Group.

"The promises of an AI-enabled healthcare system will fall short if public trust in how health data is managed to develop these technologies is not built and maintained. We hope this publication will be a useful reference to enable the licensing of healthcare data, while upholding important principles needed to maintain the public's trust."

Learn more by downloading the framework in English or French from the INOVAIT website at www.inovait.ca/data.

About INOVAIT
INOVAIT is Canada's image-guided therapy (IGT) and artificial intelligence (AI) membership network. INOVAIT supports Canadian IGT companies and academic institutions to develop and commercialize cutting-edge IGT technologies enhanced by AI. Through funding, networking, and training, the network builds upon Canada's strength in digital innovation, biomedical engineering, and clinical research to collaboratively assemble a critical mass of world-leading Canadian IGT companies and technologies. INOVAIT was established in 2020 by Sunnybrook Research Institute. INOVAIT is supported by the Government of Canada's Strategic Innovation Fund.

About Sunnybrook Research Institute
Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) is the research arm of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, an internationally recognized academic health sciences centre fully affiliated with the University of Toronto. With well-established programs in basic and applied sciences which span across three scientific platforms and ten clinical programs, SRI is developing innovations in care for the more than 1.3 million patients the hospital cares for annually.

SOURCE INOVAIT

Clara MacKinnon-Cabral, [email protected]