The Washington State Health Care Authority has launched ConsentLink, a cloud-based electronic consent management (ECM) software solution that will house consents to share sensitive data, such as substance use disorder, research, and sexually transmitted infection data.
In 2020, the Health Care Authority initiated a project to enhance the sharing of substance use disorder patient information. On August 13, it announced the launch of ConsentLink, an ECM tool that is compliant with 42 C.F.R. Part 2 regulations, after working with solution vendor Midato Health and piloting provider partners Comprehensive Life Resources, Consistent Care, and Answers Counseling.
On LinkedIn, Vishal Chaudhry, the HCA’s chief data officer, said ConsentLink is the first electronic consent management solution implemented with statewide scalability. He added that it has the functionality to allow providers to continue using their existing forms and processes, and will eventually place the power of managing consent to share healthcare information directly in the hands of patients.
“Huge kudos to the Washington State Health Care Authority team that has been tirelessly working on this and advocating on patients’ behalf for the last five years to make it a reality,” Chaudhry added. “We are grateful for our partnership with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ONC) as Washington leads the country in this innovation!”
HCA noted that the current gaps in consent management worsen disparities in access and coordination of care, particularly in times of crisis or urgent need.
The agency chose to address consent for substance use disorder (SUD) data first. Efficient data exchange is critical to address the opioid epidemic. Due to this urgency, consents to allow SUD data exchange will be the first type stored when the system is deployed. Other types of consents will be addressed later in the project.
ECM uses both federal and state funding and is a component of the Washington State Medicaid system infrastructure. The ECM system will be available at no cost for providers to manage consents for their clients using this system. HCA will hold the license with the solution vendor and offer the consent service to organizations serving Apple Health (Medicaid) clients.
Users initially will access the tool via a web portal, and the solution will only manage the consents. Providers will continue their current processes to exchange data such as fax, secure e-mail, U.S. mail, and direct data exchange. Later, there may be integration with other IT systems to trigger data exchange once the consent is active, HCA said.
The solution is planned to be made interoperable with EHR systems in a later phase of the project. Currently, an EHR is not required to use ECM. However, HCA will be working with the electronic consent solution vendor and EHR vendors to create these interfaces for future versions of the solution.
Use of the ECM system is not mandated by HCA or the State of Washington. It will be a resource for providers and Apple Health beneficiaries to handle consents more efficiently.
