The dynamic regulatory environment in healthcare can be overwhelming. The protection of information is rooted in national privacy and security laws. Those laws typically match international governing directives, although most countries do not have healthcare-specific laws like the United States. Where U.S. law and international laws differ and healthcare information must be shared, agreements such as Safe Harbor have been enacted to help bridge the differences. However, on a day-to-day basis, most of us rely on local, internal policies and procedures to govern our use of protected health information. In that sense, your focus is on your organization, but you must be familiar with prevailing national and international
