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eHealth Codes of Ethics: main developers reach consensus

The four main developers of eHealth codes of ethics met at the 3rd annual conference of Internet Healthcare Coalition held in Las Vegas USA 3-4 October 2000.

The representatives of the eHealth Code of Ethics initiative, Hi-Ethics, Journal of the American Medical Association and Health On the Net Foundation (HON Code) affirmed their commitment to cooperation between each other and coordination with all the international efforts addressing the issues of quality and trust in the healthcare Internet arena. A consensus statement was signed and issued by three of the participants and it is anticipated that once the American Medical Association ratified the statement that it will join this consensus.

The group acknowledged the various international initiatives that are concerned with the quality, rating and accreditation of health information websites, most notably the EU funded medCERTAIN project.

The first step of that coordinated approach will be the formation of a joint working group whose task is to agree and formulate a glossary of terms and definitions that will be used to harmonise compliance and verification efforts.

It is now crucial that the framework developers also engage different regulatory authorities in this effort so that the emerging codes of ethics stand a better chance of compliance in the real world. We believe that responsible self-regulation should also form the backdrop and help inform any governmental or regulatory legislation.

A framework for ethical behaviour in the eHealth arena is now more important than ever. This is not only because of the hard times the industry is going through, but also in order to protect the public and to do no harm when mainstream healthcare providers begin to utilise the Internet as an extension of their healthcare delivery operations.

Ahmad Risk
Editor

October 4, 2000 Consensus Statement

We share the same purpose - to earn the trust of the eHealth consumer.

The three codes were created to address different needs but their underlying principles are compatible.

Our respective efforts, once fully implemented, will create a comprehensive system of codes, compliance and verification that will help to deliver a trustworthy and responsible health Internet.

As the first step, we will create a coordinating committee to establish the common glossary of definitions and terms to be used in our verification and compliance efforts.

We will work to improve and evolve our individual codes and compliance efforts in a coordinated way and will cooperate with other international efforts.

eHealth Ethics Initiative of the Internet Healthcare Coalition
Ahmad Risk, MB BCh, Co-chair

Health On the Net Foundation (HON)
Timothy Nater, Executive Director

Hi-Ethics (Health Internet Ethics) Donald W. Kemper,
Chairman