The National Partnership for Women & Families has published this report describing the results of a national survey of consumers about health information technology. Harris Interactive conducted the survey in August 2011, with 1,961 respondents. The survey oversampled Hispanics to ensure representation reflective of the U.S. population; the survey was conducted in English and Spanish. Among the survey’s key findings:
- Among the respondents who indicated they have a primary care doctor, 59% have medical records in electronic systems and 41% said their doctor primarily relies on paper records.
- Between 88 and 97%(depending on the particular care element) of electronic health record (EHR) respondents and between 80 and 97% of paper-record respondents say EHRs would be useful
- Only 29% of paper-record respondents rated their record system positively for timely access to relevant information by the care team, compared to 80 percent of EHR respondents
- Among EHR respondents, 26% had online access to their health information, and among those with online access, 80% use it
- Most (59% of EHR respondents; 66% of paper-record respondents) say widespread adoption of EHR systems will lead to more personal information being lost or stolen
- Moreover, 51% of EHR and 53% of paper-record respondents believe the privacy of personal medical records and health information is not currently well protected by federal and state laws and organizational practices
- A large majority (88% of EHR and 82% of paper-record respondents) of patients want to understand how their medical information is collected and used
Ignatius Bau 