TABLE 2.

Guiding Principles That Make the REP Possible

1. Clinical and epidemiologic research based on medical records is indispensible for the progress of surgical and medical practice

2. Medical records can be used to provide continuity of care to the individual patient but also for research and education. Medical records should be archived and preserved

3. The medical data collected by individual physicians (or health care professionals) during routine medical care should be shared for the good of practice, research, and education (sharing within institutions)

4. Sharing of data collected by different institutions is indispensible to provide a complete picture of health and disease in a geographically defined population (sharing across institutions; population-based research)

5. Clinical and epidemiologic research based on routinely collected and linked medical data is essential to improve the health of the community being studied and to guide medical and public health decisions at the national level

6. There is a complex risk-benefit balance between the desire to maintain confidentiality of medical data and the need to conduct clinical and epidemiologic research to improve health