Your Healthcare IT Patients' Conditions Could Influence How They Access Health Data

By Megan Williams, contributing writer

According to the Accenture 2014 Patient Engagement Survey, having a chronic condition appears to influence patient perception of data security risk.

Of the 2,000 patients surveyed, more than 51 percent of consumers with chronic conditions indicated that the informational access benefits that came with EMRs (electronic medical records) outweighed the perceived risk of privacy invasion. Cancer patients showed the largest acceptance of the tradeoff at 57 percent, with asthma and arthritis patients showing the lowest, at 48 percent.

Right Vs. Privilege
The survey also revealed that, among consumers with chronic conditions, 69 percent believed that having access to their health data is a basic human right, and that they wanted access to all their information. These patients also indicated that while they want control, they don’t feel that they have it — about half indicated that they do not have very much control over their health information, or have none at all.

Heart disease patients overall seemed to feel they had more control over their information, with 65 percent indicating they have “complete” or “some” control, while among patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), only 49 percent indicated they have the same amount of control.

Additional Insights
Interestingly, respondents with chronic conditions are less concerned with the privacy of their EMR data than they are with privacy in online banking, shopping online, and in-store credit card use.

They also access their records more frequently than patients without chronic conditions, with 30 percent having accessed their files, compared with 24 percent of healthy consumers.

That remaining 70 percent cited that the main reason they don’t access their records is that they do not know how, with 55 percent indicating that being the main issue. An additional 17 percent believe that their records are accurate and they don’t need to access them.

“The research findings confirm that people-particularly the chronically ill-want access to their medical information. As consumers increasingly expect medical information to be available online, and as federal legislation supports that trend, it will be interesting to see how the percentage of patients accessing their EMR will shift over time.”