The VA health care system has led the health care industry in use of electronic health records with its Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology (VistA), which allows health care providers to continuously update patient information, including lab tests and results, medications and diet. Continuing its innovation in health care information technology, VA uses computer technology to improve the informed consent process.
iMedConsent , developed under the direction of VA’s National Center for Ethics in Health Care by Atlanta-based software developer Dialog Medical, takes physicians step by step through the informed consent process, displays detailed educational materials about risks and benefits of proposed treatments, generates and stores consent forms, incorporates electronic signatures into records and imports information from patient records. The goal of informed consent is to ensure that patients are knowledgeable participants in decisions about their health care. It generally requires that patients understand their choices through discussions of proposed treatments, reasonable alternatives to proposed care, risks and benefits of each alternative. iMedConsent is just another example of the VA mission to provide the best care to our nation’s veterans. In the words of former Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Anthony J. Pricipi:
"We owe it to our veterans to do all we can to ensure that they understand the care they receive and to make sure that the informed consent process is as patient-friendly as possible. This new program is a great complement to the success of VA’s electronic patient records systems.”
