Patient Consent in HIEs: Consumers are Key
October 10th, 2011
In past blogs, we’ve discussed how health information exchanges (HIE) play a crucial role in transforming the healthcare industry by enabling the systematic sharing of health-related information between disparate clinical systems and various organizations, or stakeholders. HIEs have demonstrated their ability to improve the clinical and financial performance of healthcare organizations and, if properly designed, can have a clear and commanding return on investment. Promoting sustainable HIEs plays an important role in the improvement of quality, safety and cost-effectiveness of healthcare delivered throughout the country. They ensure that patients, providers, payers and others involved have access to the right information at the right time.
To ensure success, however, HIEs must be able to share a patients’ medical information. For that to happen, an HIE must have a way to obtain meaningful consent and the support of patients. One of the main issues affecting the development of health information exchanges is the role of consumer participation. Consumer education is necessary for establishing trust in an HIE. Many polls and surveys have shown that consumers support the implementation and exchange of EHRs because they can improve patient care and reduce the number of unnecessary tests and procedures.
In our blog on the privacy and security of HIEs, we pointed out that even as an HIE enables an environment with new capabilities and opportunities, it also brings about new challenges. Without consent from patients to share their data, the viability and therefore sustainability of an HIE is limited significantly. Thus, HIEs face a multi-faceted decision on how and when to obtain patient consent. The choice of a consent model affects a multitude of stakeholders, from patients to payers and providers, and can have an impact on the way the HIE is structured. Read the rest of this entry »