As the healthcare industry awaits a final rule on information blocking and enabling easier access to data by individuals, divisions are becoming more apparent between patients and individuals on the one hand and some portions of the healthcare industry on the other hand. The divide is posited as one of access or maintaining privacy, but… Read More »
A new study by the charity Privacy International (PI) claims that popular health websites in Europe routinely share users’ mental health information with advertisers, data brokers and large tech companies. The charity analysed more than 136 popular web pages related to depression in Germany, France and the UK, using the open-source tool webxray to identify… Read More »
Dive Brief: A new study in Health Affairs lends weight to the value of health information exchanges (HIE) in improving patient outcomes. Using state-level data for 2011-2014, the authors measured the effect of hospital participation in HIEs on quality and health outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction, or heart attack. Those that participated had a… Read More »
Addressing disparities in access to health information is a challenge given the diverse sources of information and users’ trust in and preference for one source over another. Not an issue to be taken lightly, an individual’s ability to access credible health information directly impacts decision-making and health outcomes. Therefore, patient engagement is an important subject… Read More »