In 2008, the Markle Foundation convened a group of organizations, each of which had an strong interest in how consumers could use the Internet to collect, use and protect their personal health information and patient privacy.

Today, the group has announced  a consensus statement—a broad framework of how this could work.

View the framework .  You may also go to the Markle Foundation website to see the names of the 56 organizations which are participating.

Markle took this on, clearly recognizing both the potential and the peril to individuals as health/medical information travels the Internet.

The focus here?  They are called either EMRs (electronic medical records) or HMRs (health medical records).

The benefits are clear. The questions remain. Who can have access to your confidential information? How will you be able to assess privacy protections in place before you have an electronic record? These, and other important questions, need solid answers.

Markle Foundation Press Release

“The future of health care should encourage expanded use of information tools to help consumers better manage their health, 56 diverse organizations said today as they embraced a framework for personal health information access and privacy.

“Consumers need to be full participants in modern health information tools and services to help them prevent illness, communicate better with clinicians, understand costs and treatment options, make better health decisions, and take better care of loved ones,” the group said in a joint

“Health reform requires putting the power of information at the fingertips of 300 million consumers,” said Zoë Baird, president of the Markle Foundation, which convened the group. “If we do this right, consumers will contribute to a health care system that rewards quality, slows an unsustainable spiral of costs, and protects the privacy of sensitive information.”

“The recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act establishes billions of dollars in incentives for clinicians and hospitals to use health information technology, including electronic health records (EHRs).  The law also clarifies that individuals have the right to receive copies of personal health information from EHRs in electronic formats and authorize their information to be stored in a service of the individual’s choosing.

“In the age of the Internet, there is vast potential for consumers to connect online to new services to make their lives easier and healthier,” said Carol Diamond, MD, MPH, chair of Markle Connecting for Health, which convened the group. “Providing consumers with electronic access to their information should be one of the things that the health IT incentives stimulate, so that many services may flourish by using information according to the individual’s needs and wishes.”

Source: Markle Foundation News Release, June 25, 2009