This report presents key recommendations and an action agenda developed during a 2-day workshop convened by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) on July 27-28, 2009, entitled “Building Bridges: Consumer Needs and the Design of Health Information Technology.‖ The purpose of this event was to develop a framework for characterizing personal health information management (PHIM) that would inform the design of effective consumer health information technology (health IT) systems. The workshop brought together leaders from multiple disciplines, including health sciences, health informatics, information science, consumer health IT, and human factors research, with specific expertise in the fields of PHIM and/or health IT. The workshop moderator was Patricia Flatley Brennan, who also served as an advisor on this report.

Through small-group discussions and presentations, the participants considered the diverse needs of different consumer groups with respect to managing their personal health information and how consumer health IT solutions can be designed to better meet those needs. Based on these discussions and presentations, the participants were asked to set an agenda for advancing the field of consumer health IT that would include specific recommendations for research, industry, and policy.