Partnership lauds draft roadmap citing focus on patient participation

The Consumer Partnership for eHealth (CPeH), a group of more than 50 leading consumer, patient and labor organizations, appears to be the first group to submit public comments regarding the draft Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap.

The organization praised the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) for advancing full and equal interoperability, not just among healthcare providers but also between providers and patients and their family caregivers.

ONC’s draft roadmap, they wrote, will help the nation enable and support a learning health system in which all individuals, their families and care providers can send, receive, find and use electronic health information in ways that are appropriate, secure, timely and reliable for continuous learning and improved health which "will have a profound impact in transforming our healthcare system into one that better meets the needs of patients and families. CPeH also praised the draft roadmap for treating patients and families as equal partners in the continuum of care and in electronic access to and use of health information, noting that “better care, better health and lower costs absolutely depend upon patients being equal and engaged partners.”

CPeH said the roadmap “can help make health information technology the engine of successful reform that it can and should be,” said National Partnership for Women & Families President Debra L. Ness. “We can only make the progress we need if our healthcare system is patient- and family-centered, and patients and families become genuine co-creators of their own health and healthcare. If implemented, this draft roadmap can help make that possible.” The National Partnership leads CPeH, which has a combined membership of more than 127 million Americans.

CPeH also recommends ONC shift its focus from individuals demanding access to their electronic health information to ensuring that individuals and caregivers actively use this information. "Providing electronic access to health information is fundamental to individuals’ ability to cultivate meaningful, active partnerships with their providers."

The organization also recommends a requirement of consumer involvement in any coordinated governance process regarding interoperability. "Including patients, family members and consumer advocates on governing bodies will ensure that their unique perspectives on how to advance interoperability are considered as policies and procedures are developed.

Public comments on the draft roadmap are due April 3.