Survey Finds Majority of Patients Believe EHRs Are Valuable for Care

The majority of patients find value in the use of electronic health records, according to a study commissioned by the National  Partnership for Women & Families, The Hill‘s “Healthwatch” reports (Pecquet, “Healthwatch,” The  Hill, 2/16).

Methodology

The study, titled “Making IT Meaningful: How Consumers Value and Trust Health  IT,” was conducted by Harris Interactive in August 2011 and involved 1,961  survey respondents.

Researchers asked respondents if EHRs are or would be useful in addressing  seven key elements of care, such as ensuring physicians have timely access to  relevant information and helping patients communicate directly with care  providers.

Study Findings

The survey found:

• Between 88% and 97% of respondents whose physicians use EHRs and between  80% and 97% of respondents whose physicians use paper records said EHRs are  or would be valuable for the key elements of care;
• About 75% of respondents whose physicians use paper records said it would be  valuable to switch to EHRs;
• 26% of respondents have online access to their medical records and are more  supportive of health IT than those without online access; and
• 6% of respondents whose physicians use EHRs are unsatisfied with the  system.

Respondents said they had more confidence in EHRs compared with paper records  for tasks such as:

• Protecting patient information;
• Complying with privacy laws;
• Giving patients more control over their data;
• Earning patient trust; and
• Seeing a record of who has accessed their medical information.

Privacy Concerns

The survey found that many participants had concerns about data breaches and  privacy laws. For example:

• 59% of respondents whose physicians use EHRs and 66% of respondents whose  physicians use paper records believe widespread adoption of health  IT systems will lead to more lost or stolen information; and
• 51% of respondents whose physicians use EHRs and 53% of respondents whose  physicians use paper records believe that the privacy of medical records and  personal health data currently is not well protected (Miliard, Healthcare IT News, 2/16).

The report states, “[T]his issue is not about trusting providers: More than  90% of both paper and EHR respondents trust their doctors to protect health  information. Rather, this unease may point to inexperience with the capabilities  of electronic systems and dissatisfaction with the legal and policy framework in  place to protect health information” (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 2/16).

Implications

Christine Bechtel, vice president of NPWF, said consumers must support health  IT if it is going to succeed. “If they don’t, we will see political pressure for  repeal and the promise will be squandered,” Bechtel said.

National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari said the “survey draws  attention to a critical, but sometimes overlooked, facet of health IT —  patients and their families need to be at the center of efforts to modernize  health care’s information infrastructure” (Healthcare IT News, 2/16).

Source: iHealthBeat

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