Panel Members Say EHR Consent is Possible

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in its report on healthcare information technology last week came up with some interesting ideas about redirecting federal efforts to put more emphasis on health information exchange.

The PCAST laid to rest the canard that it is technologically infeasible to create electronic health-record systems that can restore to patients some semblance of privacy and control over the flow of their electronic health records. The council outlined a technological framework for not only recording patient consent directives for opting into or out of health information exchanges, but also even more granular controls over sensitive information such as diagnosis codes for psychiatric disorders.

I suspect the report will cause healthcare data-miners to increase their lobbying budgets while providing Maalox moments to providers who sell patient data.

Federal policymakers have claimed they're all about creating a patient-centric healthcare system. They've insisted that patient privacy is "foundational" to fostering trust in a proposed nationwide, electrified, healthcare-record exchange network. Let's see if they push forward with the consent-enabling components of this technology and back up that push with privacy policies that require and incentivize its use. I'll believe it when I see it, but you have to give the PCAST credit for chutzpah for even proposing a move in this direction.