A patient-oriented approach to comprehensive health information quality improvement

This paper presents a new approach to comprehensive health care information quality improvement based on the IQ principle of all information stakeholder participation in quality improvement. We propose Personal Health Information Manager (PHIM), an entity that enables the participation of patients in the management of their health information thereby creating an environment for the implementation of a comprehensive health IQ improvement. Specifically, the PHIM addresses the limited medical and technical knowledge of patients, major factors limiting their active participation in health information lifecycle. Converse to pervious research on personally controlled health records, PHIM provides a way to systematically collect and integrate information about entire patients’ health history. It delivers a relatively more accurate, timely, consistent and accessible information product to patients, physicians, researchers and other authorized stakeholders. In concluding, we describe some models of PHIM operation as well as possible concerns.