The Washington State Well being Care Authority has launched ConsentLink, a cloud-based digital consent administration (ECM) software program resolution that can home consents to share delicate knowledge, comparable to substance use dysfunction, analysis, and sexually transmitted an infection knowledge.
In 2020, the Well being Care Authority initiated a mission to boost the sharing of substance use dysfunction affected person info. On August 13, it introduced the launch of ConsentLink, an ECM instrument that’s compliant with 42 C.F.R. Half 2 laws, after working with resolution vendor Midato Well being and piloting supplier companions Complete Life Assets, Constant Care, and Solutions Counseling.
On LinkedIn, Vishal Chaudhry, the HCA’s chief knowledge officer, stated ConsentLink is the primary digital consent administration resolution carried out with statewide scalability. He added that it has the performance to permit suppliers to proceed utilizing their current varieties and processes, and can ultimately place the facility of managing consent to share healthcare info immediately within the fingers of sufferers.
“Large kudos to the Washington State Well being Care Authority staff that has been tirelessly engaged on this and advocating on sufferers’ behalf for the final 5 years to make it a actuality,” Chaudhry added. “We’re grateful for our partnership with Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Providers and Assistant Secretary for Expertise Coverage (ONC) as Washington leads the nation on this innovation!”
HCA famous that the present gaps in consent administration worsen disparities in entry and coordination of care, significantly in occasions of disaster or pressing want.
The company selected to deal with consent for substance use dysfunction (SUD) knowledge first. Environment friendly knowledge change is vital to deal with the opioid epidemic. Resulting from this urgency, consents to permit SUD knowledge change would be the first sort saved when the system is deployed. Different forms of consents can be addressed later within the mission.
ECM makes use of each federal and state funding and is a element of the Washington State Medicaid system infrastructure. The ECM system can be accessible for gratis for suppliers to handle consents for his or her shoppers utilizing this method. HCA will maintain the license with the answer vendor and supply the consent service to organizations serving Apple Well being (Medicaid) shoppers.
Customers initially will entry the instrument through an online portal, and the answer will solely handle the consents. Suppliers will proceed their present processes to change knowledge comparable to fax, safe e-mail, U.S. mail, and direct knowledge change. Later, there could also be integration with different IT methods to set off knowledge change as soon as the consent is lively, HCA stated.
The answer is deliberate to be made interoperable with EHR methods in a later section of the mission. Presently, an EHR will not be required to make use of ECM. Nonetheless, HCA can be working with the digital consent resolution vendor and EHR distributors to create these interfaces for future variations of the answer.
Use of the ECM system will not be mandated by HCA or the State of Washington. It is going to be a useful resource for suppliers and Apple Well being beneficiaries to deal with consents extra effectively.