Japan privacy watchdog warns against improper use of medical claims data
( August 20, 2026, 02:47 GMT | Official Statement) -- MLex Summary: Japan’s data protection authority has warned municipalities to ensure residents’ medical data are provided and used only for specified purposes, following an investigation into the use of anonymized health-insurance claims data. The Personal Information Protection Commission said Wednesday that anonymized medical data supplied through data-handling companies were being used not only for drug makers’ research and development but also for marketing and insurance companies' product designing. Under Japan’s personal-information protection law, administrative bodies may provide anonymized data only when permitted by law or when necessary for specified purposes. The PPC urged municipalities, which handle residents’ medical data as operators of national health-insurance programs, to clearly specify the purposes for which data are provided. It also warned private data-handling companies against using the information in ways that could put municipalities in breach of the law.The statement is attached (in Japanese). ...
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