Physician survey: patient EHR access should be limited

Most physicians want patients to engage in their own healthcare by updating their EHRs--but only to a point. A recent survey of doctors conducted by Accenture revealed that while 82 percent of US physicians want patients to update their EHRs, only 31 percent believe they should have full access to that record.

“These findings were consistent among 3,700 doctors in eight countries: Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Singapore, Spain and the United States,” according to the report.

The survey found that the bulk of physicians agreed that patients should be able to update some or all of their health information such as demographics (95 percent), family medical history (88 percent), medications (86 percent) and allergies (85 percent). But when it comes to allowing patients to update their lab test results, only 47 percent of doctors found that appropriate.

A small sliver of physicians (21 percent) allow their patients online access to medical summaries or patient charts. But by and large, the vast majority (84 percent) report a strong commitment to promoting EHRs in their clinical practice.