Dive Brief:
- Maine's health information exchange is searching for a healthcare organization willing to take part in a pilot program to provide patients direct access to their state medical records.
- This pilot program is part of a larger, federally funded initiative designed to help states implement their State Healthcare Innovation Plans. Through this initiative, Maine is also working to integrate patient records with behavioral health providers, expand a patient-centered medical home program and enable analysis of clinical and claims data, according to iHealthBeat.
- In the pilot program, Maine's HIE would allow patients to download a "continuity of care document" which summarizes their records from all organization using the HIE.
Dive Insight:
For a long time, doctors have resisted programs that attempted to give patients full access to their entire record. Maine's new initiative might serve as something of a compromise, as CCDs don't include all the doctors' comments, sparing physicians possible embarrassment or discomfort. Now, it's easy for us to say that this is a good idea, but it remains to be seen whether patients will actually embrace this.