Indiana University given $4M to study health IT ethics, law

The Lilly Endowment -- a private family foundation created by the founders of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. -- has given Indiana University $4 million study the legal, ethical and social implications of the use of health information technology.

The funds will support the creation of the Center for Law, Ethics and Applied Research in Health Information (CLEAR Health Information). The center will be a collaboration between the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, part of the Pervasive Technology Institute at IU, and the IU School of Medicine's Center for Bioethics. CLEAR will also pull together university and state resources in health sciences, information technology, law, ethics and other disciplines to study the ethical, legal and social issues associated with the creation and sharing of electronic health information, according its principals.