A method distributes and manages medical information on a communication network over a wide area. Encrypted medical information is acquired from one of a plurality of first computers by a second computer connected to the communication network, the plurality of first computers being connected to the communication network, holding identical medical information, encrypting medical information, and sending and receiving encrypted medical information. The second computer decrypts the acquired encrypted medical information, browses and updates decrypted medical information, and then encrypts the browsed and updated medical information. The second computer then sends the encrypted browsed and updated medical information to the plurality of first computers.