To Boost Engagement, Remove Barriers To Consumers' Access To Records

As healthcare organizations seek to boost consumer engagement, it's important to understand how traditional policies on access to health information might cause roadblocks, according to a practice brief at the Journal of AHIMA.

Policies and practices should be continuously examined and updated to ensure that they do not present impediments to consumer engagement, authors of the brief write. Among its recommended best practices:

• Work with clinicians to include a comprehensive set of clinical information, including doctors' notes and other forms of documentation, so that patients using a portal have more than just appointment times and lab results.
• Create a "one-stop shop" for archived paper records, compact discs, diagnostic imaging media, pathology slides, etc...