Modern health care depends upon accurate, timely, understandable, and relevant information. Complete and useful information needs to be in the hands of patients, families, professionals, and health system managers to improve individual health, the performance of the health care system, and the nation’s well-being. A properly planned information environment may achieve these functions without central databases, or new physical networks, or new entities. Though referring to a “network,” the principles presented here describe the essential attributes of any approach to improving information connectivity in health care.
The Patient and Consumer-focused Principles cover:
- Information access and control
- Disclosure and accountability
- Functionality
- Governance