This whitepaper is the first in a series of privacy and security reports developed by George Washington University under contract with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. The paper examines issues regarding whether, to what extent, and how individuals should have the ability to exercise control over their health information in an electronic health information exchange environment, and looks at existing approaches and details policy options, considerations, and analysis. The whitepaper will serve as input to and will be reviewed by the HIT Policy Committee’s Privacy and Security Workgroup as it prepares to make recommendations related to consumer consent in an electronic health information exchange environment.