Universal external control device for use by multiple conditional access users with varying access to functionality of an implantable medical device

1. A universal external control device for permitting wireless conditional access to functionality of an implantable medical device by a plurality of conditional access users, comprising:

circuitry for identifying each of the plural conditional access users, determining functionality associated with the implantable medical device which each of the plural conditional access users has been assigned and restricting access for each of the plural conditional access users to that functionality associated with the implantable medical device based on the determined functionality to which each of the plural conditional access users has been assigned; each of the plural conditional access users is assigned by the circuitry a particular set of conditional access functions from a non-hierarchical framework; wherein a non-conditional access user is assigned by the circuitry default non-conditional functional access to the implantable medical device which functionality does not require satisfaction of a condition in advance and is accessible by the plural conditional access users;

wherein the non-hierarchical framework includes a first set of conditional access functions and a last set of conditional access functions;

wherein the non-hierarchical framework includes at least one intermediate set of conditional access functions, and none of the conditional access functions overlap in any set of conditional access functions in the non-hierarchical network.