Unmet Need
An informed consent agreement in healthcare is a legal document that a patient signs to demonstrate that his/her healthcare provider has fully explained the procedure and that the patient has voluntarily agreed to do it. It is a requirement for many procedures, like most surgeries, anesthesia, radiation, chemotherapy, etc. However, in many hospitals, the forms are hastily completed and the administration of the form or information therein can be incorrect. This compliance failure puts a significant burden on hospitals, due to the management of governmental non-compliance citations and legal liability from a breach of contract. Thus, there is a need for a method of administering informed consent forms accurately and effectively.
Technology Overview
Johns Hopkins researchers have designed a smart library of informed consent forms that are applicable for a wide variety of procedures, accessible by a webpage or through an app. Physicians that need to provide informed consent forms would navigate to the form for their procedure, which has information prefilled, and guides them through a fully-compliant consent process. Patients can then view and sign the forms on their device from anywhere, thus, easing the burden of the informed consent process on both patients and physicians while simultaneously meeting compliance requirements. This technology has the potential to effectively streamline the informed consent process, thus reducing treatment delay.
Stage of Development
Ideation, market analyses and customer interviews have been completed.
Patent
N/A
Publication
