A Punchlist for Consumer Directed Exchange Success
Health data fluidity in the United States still has a way to go to get to an ideal state. Federal efforts, such as Meaningful Use, have improved the situation somewhat, but people still struggle to access their own health information . An effort to empower patients by giving them the power to move data around on their own is gaining momentum and attention . Although it can go by many names, its often referred to as "Consumer Directed Exchange". To clear up some ambiguity, "Directed Exchange" in US health care most often refers to the Direct Project . Direct is an encrypted email-based point-to-point exchange mechanism that is required to meet Meaningful Use criteria . Direct is often used for provider-to-provider and system-to-system communication. Direct has seen little adoption by consumers (i.e. patients). The term "Consumer Directed Exchange", on the other hand , is a technology agnostic term that can refer to