At the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's annual Consumer Health IT Summit, National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo announced that ONC will develop a policy framework to identify best practices, gaps and opportunities for the use of patient-generated health data in research and care delivery through 2024, FierceHealthIT reports (Bowman, FierceHealthIT, 10/2).

Framework Details

According to Clinical Innovation & Technology, the framework will consider how patient-generated data can be collected using methods that:

• Build confidence among providers and researchers in using the data;
• Encourage patients to provide their health data for research;
• Enhance patient-provider relationships; and
• Protect patients and the integrity of patient records (Walsh, Clinical Innovation & Technology, 10/2).

DeSalvo said the framework also could offer guidance for the:

• Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute's PCORnet; and
• Precision Medicine Initiative.

She said the framework will be developed over the next two years (Allen et al., "Morning eHealth," Politico, 10/2).

During that time, ONC will conduct pilots to:

• Test the implementation of topics in the framework; and
• Refine what policies are included in the final framework (Clinical Innovation & Technology, 10/2).