Look But Don’t Touch Your Own Health Data

A new report from the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (let’s just go with ASTP) shows us why the battle for consumer ownership of their own health data and total interoperability is far from over.

ASTP released a report earlier this month on the patient engagement capabilities of hospitals. The report is based on hospital survey data collected by the American Hospital Association (AHA). The AHA conducted the survey from April through September last year with 2,253 hospitals responding to the survey.

Here’s the positive news that the survey revealed:

• 99% of the hospitals allowed their patients to view their health and medical information online.
• 96% of the hospitals allowed their patients to download their health and medical information from their online medical record.
• 95% of the hospitals allowed their patients to view clinical notes from their providers in the patient portal.
• 92% of the hospitals enabled their patients to send and receive secure messages with their providers via their patient portals.

Then things started to taper off, from a healthcare consumerism point of view:

• Only 84% of the hospitals let their patients electronically transmit transitions of care and/or referral summaries to a third party.
• Only 62% of the hospitals let their patients submit patient-generated data like blood pressure readings or glucose level readings to their own medical record.
• Only 56% of the hospitals let their patient import health and medical information from other providers into their own medical record.

First, there’s absolutely no reason why the percentages on view, download, clinical notes and secure messages shouldn’t be 100%. Those are foundational patient engagement capabilities. There are no technological barriers. Only cultural, organizational or territorial reasons.

As for the lagging percentages on transmit, patient-generated data and import, what world do hospitals live in? The percentages reveal an institutional bias against consumers being able to collect and manage their own health data from their own devices and other sources to build a complete and living record of their health and medical status.

Guess what? We can do it.

It’s something we learned during the COVID-19 pandemic when we decided to look up our COVID test results rather than waiting for a secure message or phone call from our provider.

Even ASTP acknowledged the pandemic as a turning point in healthcare consumerism.

“Post-COVID, there has been both an increase in patient access to electronic health information and in demand for methods of viewing and managing health information electronically,” the report said.

If you’re a healthcare revolutionary and follow 4sight Health, you knew that nearly five years ago if you read, “COVID-19 Fans Flames of Consumerism in Patients,” on 4sighthealth.com.

Let’s finish what the COVID-19 pandemic started: 100% consumer ownership of their own health data, and 100% interoperability of that data across any and all technology.

Thanks for reading.