The HL7® FHIR® Connectathon Consumer Centered Data Exchange Track
The HL7 FHIR Connectathon 16 in San Diego hosted a Consumer Centered Data Exchange track, focusing on scenarios where a patient app can “pull” their health records from all of their providers in one place, or cause their EMR data to be sent from provider A to provider B. However, before such pulling or sharing can begin, one needs to consider that a provider may require an explicit patient consent or authorization form (often paper-based) signed by the patient
Today, a patient would typically do this by signing a paper form and the provider would hand over a DVD containing scanned PDF copies of the patient’s health records. Now, imagine using a consumer health app on your phone, and every time you request your provider to share your records, the app asks you to first download a consent form that you then need to print, sign and fax to your provider. That would be a cumbersome and undesirable patient experience. Instead, digitally embedding patient consent during the electronic pulling or sharing of patient records itself can make this experience much smoother.
