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:
Respondents said they had more confidence in EHRs compared with paper records for tasks such as:
Privacy Concerns
The survey found that many participants had concerns about data breaches and privacy laws. For example:
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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