Publications contained in this report are: "A commentary on the MHLW’s personal information protection guidelines, "MHLW’s draft of personal information protection guidelines issued Sep. 30," and "Results of the interviews with representatives of medical facilities, nursing homes, SMOs, CRO, and "The third-party certification organizations."

Penal regulations had been applied to physicians against the leakage of medical information prior to May 2003 when a Personal Information Protection Law was issued. According to the new law, medical facilities are required to meet the strict rules against the leakage of patients’ personal information. Rapid progress is taking place, however, in the field of medical information technologies that include electronic medical records, ordering, and medical accounting. The Internet is also utilized in digital networking of medical facilities as well as in providing information about clinical trials by pharmaceutical companies. A survey was conducted in order to look into security measures being taken and to identify issues to be resolved, as digitization of medical record information is in progress.

Also contained in the survey results are the provision of medical information and current status of various services offered via patient-oriented websites of various industrial segments including medical organizations, insurance companies, health industries, pharmaceutical companies, and e-commerce industries, along with security measures taken by those organizations.