INFORMATION POLICY FOR THE U.S. HEALTH SECTOR:
ENGINEERING, POLITICAL ECONOMY, AND ETHICS

I. Introduction

1. Deficits and aspirations
2. Efficiency, privacy
3. Terminology, expectations
4. Public policy, managed care

II. Systemic Benefits

1. 'Administrative simplification'
2. Clinical care (patient-centered services)
3. Research (outcomes and effectiveness)
4. Public health (population-centered services)

III. Systemic Risks

1. Provider-patient trust
2. New users, new uses

IV. Current Normative, Legal and Regulatory Protections

1. Professional norms and codes
2. State law and policy
3. Federal law and policy
4. International

V. Engineering Issues

1. Current data security
2. Future data security
3. Future standardization

VI. Political-Economic Issues

1. Preemption and 'Federalism'
2. Oversight/regulation/enforcement
3. Categorization (users, uses, data)
4. Proprietary vs collective uses

VII. Ethical Issues

1. Fair information principles
2. Fair information details
3. Variations on consent
4. Public opinion, public debate

VIII. Recent Legislative Responses

1. State-level activity
2. Past Congressional attention
3. 104^th Congress
4. 105^th Congress and the future

IX. Conclusion

X. References

XI. Other Documents

XII. Internet/ WWW Resources