AMA Resolutions

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Whereas, The Internet has an impact on health and the practice of medicine; and

Whereas, This impact and scope is significant and growing, given that in March of 2000 more than 304 million individuals (136 million Americans) went to the Internet and that an increasing number of health related Internet sites, currently estimated to be between 15,000 and 100,000, are located outside of the United States; and

Whereas, Consumers, healthcare providers, and governments have identified many issues relating to topics such as privacy, disclosure, and advertising; and

Whereas, The use of the Internet in health has no underlying professional code of ethics; and

Whereas, Health Internet Ethics (or Hi-Ethics), a coalition of health Internet sites supporting high ethical standards, is geared toward earning consumers’ trust and confidence in Internet health services, but is not a true "code of ethics"; and

Whereas, The eHealth Ethics Summit participants, have developed an eHealth Code of Ethics with the following features: (1) representation from a diverse, international set of stakeholders; (2) leadership from world renowned ethicists; (3) public commentary period; and (4) participation of other initiatives; and

Whereas, The AMA has developed and published their specific Internet policy that is not intended to be a Code of Ethics, that the AMA is not interested in endorsing sites and realizing that the AMA guidelines are a specification for sites that are consistent with the eHealth Code of Ethics; and

Whereas, Realizing that there is a critical need to have one universal Code of Ethics and that Internet health sites must be encouraged to follow this Code of Ethics, and policymakers and healthcare professionals must be educated on this important health issue; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That our AMA support of a universal code of ethics for Internet
health sites; and be it further

RESOLVED, That our AMA assume a leadership role in structuring this code of ethics
in the context of the eHealth Ethics Summit; and be it further

RESOLVED, That our AMA declare its intention to adopt the e-Health Code of Ethics as AMA policy, with the proviso that AMA reserves the right to impose additional
guidelines on AMA-sponsored sites.

Strategy 1.2: Provide physicians, patients and communities with timely, credible, and relevant information on improving health status and making informed choices about their medical care.

Our AMA will: (1) develop principles describing appropriate use of the Internet in prescribing medications; (2) support the use of the Internet as a mechanism to prescribe medications with appropriate safeguards to ensure that the standards for high quality medical care are fulfilled; (3) work with state medical societies in urging state medical boards to ensure high quality medical care by investigating and, when appropriate, taking necessary action against physicians who fail to meet the local standards of medical care when issuing prescriptions through Internet web sites that dispense prescription medications; (4) work with the Federation of State Medical Boards and others in endorsing or developing model state legislation to establish limitations on Internet prescribing; (5) continue to work with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and support their "Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites" program so that physicians and patients can easily identify legitimate Internet pharmacy practice sites; (6) work with federal and state regulatory bodies to close down Internet web sites of companies that are illegally promoting and distributing (selling) prescription drug products in the United States; and. (7) keep pace with changes in technology by continually updating standards of practice on the Internet. (BOT Rep. 35, A-99)

It is the policy of the AMA (1) to make appropriate education and enforcement of its ethical guidelines a priority and (2) with the input and consent of the Federation, to begin a process to coordinate the Federation, including specialty societies and hospital medical staffs, in joint efforts to better communicate and enforce ethical standards. (BOT Rep. BBB, I-91)