Dispute prevention and dispute resolution in networked health information technology

The United States has committed to promote Health Information Technology through Electronic Health Records that will be exchanged among participants in the healthcare enterprise. In anticipation of problems, legal remedies have been established to protect the rights of all participants, especially their rights to protect the privacy of their own information. However, there are certain to be situations where disputes arise among participants that can be resolved without recourse to legal action. This paper pursues the possibility of establishing policies to encourage alternative dispute resolution through online methods integrated into the health information technology processes and lays out areas requiring research.