CommonWell to provide patients access to their data

CommonWell Health Alliance continues to improve interoperability, extending existing CommonWell services to enable patients to have access to their data for the first time via the CommonWell network.

Eight CommonWell members have committed to offering patient access services to self-enroll in CommonWell, self-link their records wherever they obtain care across the care continuum and self-query and view their data on the network via patient portals, according to an announcement.

Patients will be able to give their providers more secure, near instant access to their data and make it easier for them to see their own health information. CommonWell members MediPortal and Integrated Data Services are offering their portal services for this initiative; other members, including Aprima, athenahealth, Cerner, Modernizing Medicine, Evident and RelayHealth will embed these services into their own patient portals

“Far too often individuals and the people who care for them are stymied by the onerous task of accessing their health data. CommonWell and its members are dedicated to helping break down the barriers that make it difficult for patients to access that information,”Jitin Asnaani, executive director of CommonWell Health Alliance, said in the announcement. 

CommonWell Health Alliance is a not-for-profit trade association of health IT companies created in 2013 to provide “universal” access to health data across the country.  Cerner, athenahealth, CPSI, Greenway Health and McKesson took the network nationwide in 2015. As of this month, more than 8,000 sites have committed to using CommonWell services.

To learn more:
- read the announcement