On Thursday, 56 organizations endorsed the Common Framework for Networked Personal Health Information, a set of principles designed to promote consumer access to electronic health records and ensure privacy, Healthcare IT News reports.
The Markle Foundation's Connecting for Health Collaborative developed the principles.
The framework includes four overviews and 14 specific approaches to allow consumers to:
- Access health care;
- Authorize the sharing of their medical information;
- Ensure the privacy and security of their records; and
- Obtain and control copies of their health data.
In a statement, the groups said, "Consumers need to be full participants in modern health information tools and services to help them prevent illness, communicate better with clinicians, understand cost and treatment options, make better health decisions and take better care of loved ones" (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 6/26).
The framework's signatories include:
- AARP;
- America's Health Insurance Plans;
- American Academy of Family Physicians;
- Google;
- McKesson;
- National Quality Forum; and
- Microsoft (Vesely, Modern Healthcare, 6/25).
The full list of endorsing organizations is available in Markle's press release (.pdf).