Survey: Lagging progress in patient knowledge of EHRs

While EHR adoption is on the upswing, patient education does not appear to be keeping pace. Only 29 percent of U.S. adults with doctors have been informed that their medical records will be converted to digital format, according to a recent online survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Xerox.

The survey of 2,009 adults found that 83 percent have concerns, such as security, about EHRs and 32 percent want their medical records to be digital (compared to 82 percent and 26 percent in 2010, respectively). Moreover, only 19 percent of respondents said they currently have online access to their records.

While concerns swirled around the use of EHRs systems, respondents did see some benefits, with 62 percent agreeing that they will reduce overall healthcare costs and 73 percent believing that EHRs will improve the quality of service they receive from their healthcare provider. These numbers are up 2 percent and 3 percent, respectively, from last year, according to Xerox.

As part of Meaningful Use Stage 2, providers have one year to make patient records available through online portals and 5 percent of patients must access their digital data.

“The juxtaposition here is that since the HITECH Act became law four years ago, healthcare providers have made tremendous strides in adopting EHRs, but there has been little to no change in Americans’ acceptance of digital medical records,” Charles Fred, president of healthcare provider solutions at Xerox, said in a statement. “Patients will soon have more access to their personal health information than ever before, but they need to be educated by providers on how this will empower them to take charge of their own care.”