Last week the Wall Street Journal online edition released the findings of a November 2007 survey of 2000+ on consumer views of electronic records and privacy.
Some of the key findings:
- 23% rely on their doctors to maintain their personal electronic medical record and 3% maintain their own personal health record (PHR).
- 91% believe they have a right to the electronic medical records maintained by their physician.
- 77% want ability to schedule appointments by email/electronically.
- 75% want to communicate to their doctor by email (but the majority are unwilling to pay for such email consultations.
- Consumers are about 20% more confident that their doctor has an accurate medical history of them if the doctor/care provider is using an electronic medical record keeping system.
- And probably one of the most significant findings is that consumers realize that electronic records do increase the risk of breach of privacy (61%), they do believe by a 3 to 1 margin that allowing care givers and researchers to use electronic records can improve overall healthcare.
Apparently, at least based on these results, the consumer may not be as concerned about privacy has some may claim. Yes, privacy is important, but consumers are willing to take some risks, provided thee rewards are better healthcare delivery, ease of interactions with healthcare providers and the potential for better treatments in the future.
You’ll find the WSJ story is here.
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