Are Patient Portals Why Doctors Are Falling Behind On Information Exchange?
By Megan Williams, contributing writer
Patients are accessing their healthcare online more and beating out physicians when it comes to healthcare information exchange.
Consumer Access Is Increasing
According to two briefs from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), available here and here, patients are being offered increased access to their online medical records by both providers medical insurers, with the number jumping up to 38 percent in 2014 from 28 percent in 2013 according to Health IT Outcomes. These trends represent an overall shift toward an industry that’s learning to facilitate patient access to information.
According to ONC, “The ability of individuals to easily and securely access and use their health information electronically serves as one of the cornerstones of nationwide efforts to increase patient and family engagement, and advance person-centered health. With access to their electronic health information, individuals can serve as intermediaries of information exchange among providers and use innovative applications to better manage their health.”
Much of this is driven by hospitals increasingly providing patients the opportunity to access, download, and transmit their electronic information. According to the report the number was at 64 percent in 2014, up from 10 percent in 2013.
It’s apparent that patients are generally open to an environment that facilitates access to their records, an attitude that aligns with HIE initiatives. A recent survey from business software reviewer Software Advice reveals that the majority of patients (73 percent) feel “moderately” or “very comfortable” with having an electronic version of their health records immediately accessible by authorized providers in their state.
Doctors Still Somehow Lagging Behind
Doctors on the other hand, aren’t contributing quite as much to the world of health information exchange. ONC has found that over half of physicians are sharing information with patients (52 percent, up 30 percent since 2013) while that same number between providers had only increased 7 percent with only 25 percent sharing patient health information with other providers in 2014.
When it comes to other stakeholders, one-third of physicians shared electronic health information with ambulatory care providers, and just over 25 percent electronically shared information with hospitals. As expected, sharing was more common within organizations than outside. The report also found minimal variability in sharing rates by data type: “About one-third of physicians shared laboratory results electronically, and similar proportions reported sharing the other types of data examined in the survey: imaging results, medication, medication allergy, or patient problem lists. About 3 in 10 physicians reported sharing all 5 types of clinical information with unaffiliated hospitals or outside organizations.”
Going Deeper
Read more about issues with health information exchanges here