Doctors and Patients Mostly Agree on IT
Government Health IT reported yesterday that according to a national survey released January 31st by the Markle Foundation, patient and physicians share many similar views regarding increasing beneficial use of health information technology to improve delivery of care, as well as the necessary privacy protections that should go along with the shift to utlize electronic medical records. The Markle Foundation states on its website that the Markle Survey of Health in a Networked Life is
[t]he first of its kind to compare the core values of physicians and the general public, referred to here also as patients based on their opinions as consumers of health care, on deployment of information technology in health care.
Key findings in the Markel Survey include:
- 74% of the doctors surveyed would prefer computer-based means of sharing patient information with each other.
- 47% of the doctors would prefer computer-based means of sharing records with their patients. (Only 5% do so today.)
- 74% of doctors said patients should be able to share their information electronically with their doctors and other practitioners.
- 10% of the public reported currently having an electronic PHR (up from 3% who reported having one in Markle’s 2008 survey).
- 70% of the public and 65% of the doctors agreed that patients should be able to download their personal health information online.
- 70% of the public said patients should get a written or online summary after each doctor visit, but only 36% of the doctors agreed. (Only 4% of doctors say that they currently provide all their patients a summary after every visit).
Other findings from the survey include:
- 70% to 80% of both patients and doctors support privacy-protective practices, such as letting people see who has accessed their records, notifying people affected by information breaches, and giving people mechanisms to exercise choice and correct information.
- 65% of the public and 75% of doctors agreed that it’s important to have a policy against the government collecting personally identifiable health information for health IT or health care quality-improvement programs.
- If there are safeguards to protect identity,however, at least 68% of the public and 75% of the doctors expressed willingness to allow composite information to be used to detect outbreaks, bioterror attacks, and fraud, and to conduct research and quality and service improvement programs.
- 75% of the public and 73% of the doctors said it will be important to measure progress on improving health care quality and safety to ensure the public health IT investments will be well spent. Both groups (each at 69%) agreed on the importance of specific requirements to improve the nation’s health in areas like heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and asthma.
- Many are unaware of the health IT incentives: 85% of the public and 36% of doctors describe themselves as not very or not at all familiar with the health IT incentives program, which makes subsidies available for doctors and hospitals to increase use of information technology.
For a detailed copy of the report, visit Markle Foundation’s Latest Surveys.
