The American Health Information Management Association, accountable care startup[ Aledade and the Robert Wood Johnson’s Flip the Clinic unit are stepping up in support of the the National Partnership for Women and Families’ GetMyHealthData project.
“Now we have an incredible opportunity to modernize the process so data access becomes easy, automated and routine,” Christine Bechtel, campaign coordinator and advisor to the National Partnership for Women and Families, said in a statement.
AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon added that AHIMA would develop a model for release of information.
“The model form will use plain language so patients can understand all their options and get the data they need delivered to them in the most convenient and effective way,” she added.
Flip the Clinic director Whitney Zatzkin, meanwhile, promised to launch new “Flips” — which she described as actionable ideas for change — to capture what works for clinicians and patients to harness the power of digital health information and co-create the best path to transmit data to patient-selected mobile apps.
And former national coordinator for health information technology Farzad Mostashari, MD added that Aledade, his startup focused on physician-led accountable care organizations, will pilot GetMyHealthData initiatives in practices in hopes that others will follow their lead.
GetMyHealthData is a collaborative effort of consumer organizations, healthcare experts, former policymakers and technology organizations working together to improve access to digital health information.
Since its launch a year ago, the collaborative has shone a light on many challenges patients and caregivers face accessing their health data.
Among the biggest obstacles, members of the initiative say, is limited awareness that patients have a right to access their health information electronically, lack of understanding about how to send health data to consumer health apps and a healthcare culture that is often unresponsive and suspicious of data-sharing with consumers.
