Legal Barriers to Health Information is the next expanded phase of an earlier RWJF grant to The George Washington University to assess the legal environment for health information. As information technology improves the availability and quality of health information, the legal imperative to use health information to improve healthcare quality and reduce healthcare disparities increases as well. For this reason, healthcare leaders urgently need to understand the legal barriers that inhibit the responsible use of health information.

Under the direction of Sara Rosenbaum, JD, Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Policy and chair of the Department of Health Policy, the project has three purposes:

• To educate consumers, health professionals and policy makers about legal barriers that may impede the use of safe and secure health information to improve quality and reduce racial and ethnic healthcare disparities;
• To identify balanced approaches for resolving barriers; and
• To provide tools to aid the dissemination of legal innovations and to provide technical assistance on legal questions related to health information.

The project is being conducted under the guidance of a Standing Committee, whose members are drawn from the fields of healthcare, health insurance, patients' rights and civil rights. The report from the first phase, Charting the Legal Environment of Health Information, can be found at www.rwjf.org. Michael Painter, JD, MD, who leads the healthcare disparities program at the Foundation, said, "Many people are spending hours of every day trying to figure out how to make health information more usable by providers, plans and consumers in order to drive sustainable improvements in the quality of care-improvements that will also reduce disparities. Change is certainly in the air, and these changes will naturally hit legal barriers. We are very hopeful that this project will help us identify and understand these barriers."

Professor Rosenbaum said, "Current trends in healthcare information represent opportunities to improve the quality of healthcare and reduce disparities. We think this project is critical in helping stakeholders take advantage of these opportunities by understanding current legal policies that shape the use and dissemination of healthcare information."

The following individuals serve as members of the Standing Committee: David Abelman, JD, assistant vice president and deputy general counsel, Tufts Associated Health Plans, Inc.; Robert Berenson, MD, senior fellow, Urban Institute; David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, director, Institute for Health Policy, Partners HealthCare System/MGH; Neil Calman, MD, FAAFP, president and CEO, Institute for Urban Family Health; Carol Diamond, MD, MPH, managing director, Health, The Markle Foundation; Richard Fogelson, JD, NREMT-I, practice manager for Strategic Research, The Advisory Board Company; Steve Hitov, JD, National Health Law Program; Patricia MacTaggart, MBA, client industry executive, EDS; Thomas Perez, JD, professor of Law, University of Maryland School of Law; William M. Sage, MD, JD, professor of Law, Columbia Law School; Susan Sheridan, MIM, MBA, co-founder and president, Consumers Advancing Patient Safety; Bruce Siegel, MD, MPH, research professor, The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services; Ann Tobin, JD, deputy general counsel, Ovations-UnitedHealth Group; Judy Waxman, vice president, Health and Reproductive Rights, National Women's Law Center; Gail Wilensky, PhD, senior fellow, Project Hope; and Betty Ann Wilkins, MSN, RN, director, Risk Management, Inova Health System.

The George Washington University Medical Center is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary academic health center that has consistently provided high quality medical care in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area for 176 years. The Medical Center comprises the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the 11th oldest medical school in the country; the School of Public Health and Health Services, the only such school in the nation's capital; GW Hospital, jointly owned and operated by a partnership between The George Washington University and Universal Health Services, Inc.; and the GW Medical Faculty Associates, an independent faculty practice plan. For more information on GWUMC, visit www.gwumc.edu.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 30 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.