Page 21 - Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

HeALtH LiteRACY, eHeALtH, AnD CoMMUniCAtion

3
forward the chronic care model and talked about ways to drive health
care improvement, laying out a number of strategies, such as engaging
consumers, transforming care delivery, and improving population health.
Wagner also examined how eHealth and health information technology
can support those key health care improvement strategies. In addition to
its ideas for moving forward with eHealth, the blueprint also discusses
approaches to aligning incentives and addresses important issues in pri-
vacy and confidentiality. The shared vision of the eHealth Initiative blue-
print describes a high-performing health care system as one in which

• all those engaged in the care of the patient are linked together in
secure and interoperable environments; and
• the decentralized flow of clinical health information directly enables
the most comprehensive, patient-centered, safe, efficient, effective,
timely and equitable delivery of care where and when it is needed
most—at the point of care (Marchibroda, 2008).

Components of eHealth include electronic health records (EHRs)
4
and personal health records (PHRs). There are also a number of new
5
consumer-facing applications, some of which are not referred to as PHRs
but which serve a similar purpose as they provide patients with access
to their own health information as they move among providers and
health plans. Health information exchange is another major component
of eHealth. This refers to the electronic exchange of data across organiza-

3 The Chronic Care Model was developed by Ed Wagner, M.D., M.P.H., director of the
MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation, Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound and
colleagues of the Improving Chronic Illness program with support from the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation.
4 An EHR system includes “(1) longitudinal collection of electronic health information for
and about persons, where health information is defined as information pertaining to the
health of an individual or health care provided to an individual; (2) immediate electronic
access to person- and population-level information by authorized, and only authorized, us-
ers; (3) provision of knowledge and decision-support that enhance the quality, safety, and
efficiency of patient care; and (4) support of efficient processes for health care delivery. Criti-
cal building blocks of an EHR system are the electronic health records (EHR) maintained
by providers (e.g., hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory settings) and by individuals (also
called personal health records)” (IOM, 2003).
5 “An electronic Personal Health Record (ePHR) is a universally accessible, layperson
comprehensible, lifelong tool for managing relevant health information, promoting health
maintenance and assisting with chronic disease management via an interactive, common
data set of electronic health information and e-health tools. The ePHR is owned, managed,
and shared by the individual or his or her legal proxy(s) and must be secure to protect the
privacy and confidentiality of the health information it contains. It is not a legal record
unless so defined and is subject to various legal limitations” (Healthcare Information and
Management Systems Society, 2005).

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