HHS launches Meaningful Consent website
An online resource to help healthcare providers effectively engage patients in choosing how they want their electronic patient health information shared was launched by the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).
Known as Meaningful Consent, the site addresses the laws, policies and issues related to the electronic exchange of health information. The site includes strategies and tools that can be used to engage and educate patients. This information is designed for providers, certain health information organizations and other implementers of health IT.
The new Meaningful Consent site includes background, lessons learned, videos and customizable tools from the eConsent pilot project that was completed by the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in March. The pilot project tested the use of tablet computers to inform patients about options available to them when they consider whether to electronically share their health information through health information exchange (HIE).
More and more patients and providers are using technology to manage healthcare and share health information, including EHRs and HIE services.
“As patients become more engaged in their healthcare, it’s vitally important that they understand more about various aspects of their choices when it relates to sharing their health in the electronic health information exchange environment,” said Joy Pritts, ONC’s chief privacy officer, in a release about the website.
The Meaningful Consent site builds upon the 2011 recommendations from ONC’s Health Information Technology Policy Committee (HITPC), which called on ONC to inform, collect and evaluate the information patients need to make an informed choice about electronic exchange of their health information.
In recognition that patients are increasingly engaged in their healthcare, HHS encourages communication and education of patients in many areas, including electronically receiving and sharing their health information. Adequately informing patients of these new models for exchange and giving patients the choice whether to participate is one means of ensuring that patients trust these technologies.
Go to the website for more information.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.