Once MetaMed has been paid for and done a literature search on a given item, will that information only be communicated to the individual who hired them, or will it be made more widely available?
A related question: Assuming that the information remains private (as seems to be the most viable business model) will the company attempt to place restrictions on what the clients may do with the information? That is, is the client free to publish it?
Clients are free to publish whatever they like, but we are very strict about patient confidentiality, and do not release any patient information without express written consent.
I like the idea of clients being free to publish anything… but what will you do if they misrepresent what you said, and claim they got the information from you? If could be a honest mistake (omiting part of information that did not seem important to them, but which in fact changes the results critically), oversimplification for sake of popularity (“5 things you should do if you have cancer” for a popular blog), or outright fraud or mental illness. For example someone could use your services and in addition try some homeopatic treatment, and at the end they would publish your advice edited to include the recommendation for homeopathy.
So there should be a rule like: “either publish everything verbatim… or don’t mention our name”. (I guess you probably already have it, but I say this for the case you don’t.)
Clients are free to publish whatever they like, but we are very strict about patient confidentiality, and do not release any patient information without express written consent.
Oh, Tom is involved too!
Thankyou for responding to our questions. I was curious.
A related question: Assuming that the information remains private (as seems to be the most viable business model) will the company attempt to place restrictions on what the clients may do with the information? That is, is the client free to publish it?
Clients are free to publish whatever they like, but we are very strict about patient confidentiality, and do not release any patient information without express written consent.
I like the idea of clients being free to publish anything… but what will you do if they misrepresent what you said, and claim they got the information from you? If could be a honest mistake (omiting part of information that did not seem important to them, but which in fact changes the results critically), oversimplification for sake of popularity (“5 things you should do if you have cancer” for a popular blog), or outright fraud or mental illness. For example someone could use your services and in addition try some homeopatic treatment, and at the end they would publish your advice edited to include the recommendation for homeopathy.
So there should be a rule like: “either publish everything verbatim… or don’t mention our name”. (I guess you probably already have it, but I say this for the case you don’t.)
I assume that means that you won’t be publishing your findings stripped of the clients identifying information?
Oh, Tom is involved too!
Thankyou for responding to our questions. I was curious.
We won’t publish anything, but clients are free to publish whatever they wish to in any manner that they wish.