eHealth (MyHealthRecord) and Informed Consent

I had an interesting experience recently. I participated in a webinar organised by the Department of Health. It was supposed to be a consultation of GPs about the uptake of eHealth.

It went something like this: “We want to gain feedback from GPs about how we can get you to use the eHealth. This is how we’re going to do it; we’ve already organised training and we’re kicking off after the Christmas break. But before we start this session you must know that we cannot consider other options or timeframes.”

I was speechless. Literally – as I was not allowed to speak. I could only send little text messages via the closed online question platform. I was unable to see the feedback from other online participants.

Meaningful use?

For years health providers have repeated the same message over and over: if you want to make eHealth successful please take us with you.