HHS has launched an online resource to help healthcare providers effectively engage patients in choosing how they want their electronic patient health information shared. Known as Meaningful Consent, the site addresses the laws, policies, and issues related to the electronic exchange of health information utilizing a health information exchange.
The site includes strategies and tools that can be used to engage and educate patients. The information is designed for providers, certain health information organizations, and other implementers of health information technology.
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 last 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 the health exchange.
The Meaningful Consent site builds upon the 2011 recommendations from ONC’s Health Information Technology Policy Committee that called on ONC to inform, collect, and evaluate the information that patients need to make an informed choice about electronic exchange of their health information.
For more information, go to www.HealthIT.gov/meaningfulconsent.