Regulating health information: a US perspective

Technologically mediated health care raises problems of quality of information, cross border practice, and patient confidentiality. Nicolas Terry probes the legal aspects of these complexities, and Benedict Stanberry adds a European perspective

Identifying the regulatory agenda for health information is not difficult. The quality of publicly available health information, cross border medical and pharmacy practice, and the privacy of medical records appear on the radar screens of most public health and consumer protection organisations. Left unregulated, any of these issues can cause considerable harm. Each issue also embodies difficult tensions: state versus federal rights, increased access to care versus quality assurance, and confidentiality versus professional discourse.

US state and federal legal systems have not achieved a coherent approach to regulating the dissemination of health information. Furthermore, the American experience will not always transfer directly to publicly funded medicine and government initiatives. Nevertheless the American experience with private sector ehealth is an instructive model, even if some areas have been neglected and others over-regulated.