For me, it would all depend upon the type of data set that is in question. I wouldnt think data set relating to a specific clinic would be pertinent to public use. If it was regarding the data for a specific service, then I could see a better argument as to why it might be good to release to the public. The reason why, is that its more important to be able to compare like services against competition. While data for the specific clinic is really only important to the facility. Its something that the VA hospital system does, providing data pertinent to the type of care demanded (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2020). We dont share individual clinic data, which is more of the data that I work with. This is because its more important for me to know how were utilizing our clinics then it is for the public. I do understand how the micro level of data that I work with impacts the larger more general data. Regardless of the type of data released, if a person cant understand it then its worthless to them. Not properly understanding it can lead to potentially poor choices.

References

Department of Veterans Affairs (2020) Hospital compare data. Retrieved from https://www.accesstocare.va.gov/Healthcare/HospitalCompareData?s=CA&f=664&m=OVERALL

In many cases, clinical data is funded through public resources therefore there is a misconception that the data should be made available to the public. However, on the opposite side of the spectrum, the data also contains personal information on the clinical participants and should be protected. Private companies also analyze and collect clinical data and place proprietary value on the data they collect as intellectual property of the private organization (“Healthcare Data: Public Good or Private Property”, 2019). So it really comes down to a balancing act. If the clinical data is funded by taxpayer dollars then there should be an expectation that the data be made available to the public. However, if private organizations are supporting and contributing to the clinical data sets then their contributions should be allowed to stay privatized to a point due to intellectual property laws. Take pharmaceutical research for example. Not all clinical trials result in a drug being released to the public however not all clinical trial data is shared among researchers and scientists on what worked and what did not (“Clinical trial data should be open to public view”, 2015). In this case, if the data results were released at a high level, this may have helped other researchers collaborate and work together to find better efficiencies in their research process. The actual proprietary data that includes specific formula combinations and patient data can remain private but overall results and methods would be available to any interested party.

Clinical trial data should be open to public view(2015). Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/2a52e722-3512-11e5-b05b-b01debd57852