Consumer Health Informatics is an increasingly important research area within health informatics, however, it is as yet not a well recognized discipline. The purpose of this study was obtaining consensus on a definition and description of Consumer Health Informatics among members of health informatics related society in Korea and the United States.

The Consumer Health Informatics? Working Group's "Survey of Definitions of Consumer Health Informatics" was administered via the World Wide Web in English and Korean.

Differences found between two groups were opinions on the definition of Consumer Health Informatics and in recognition of importance for related disciplines.

Visions and recommendations for the future of Consumer Health Informatics are provided.