Patients want to email, access EMRs, but physicians still can’t

The great healthcare chasm: Patients want to email, access EMRs, but physicians still can’t | MedCity News
MedCity News by Arundhati Parmar on September 20, 2012


When it comes to consumer use of health IT, demand seems to be outstripping supply and it’s creating the great healthcare chasm.

Results of a new survey show that while three out of four patients are eager to access health records online through EMRs and more than 60 percent want to communicate with their doctor via email or other Internet technology, only 40 percent of physicians said they had the capability to interact with patients through email or give them access to their online health records. This despite the fact that 70 percent of surveyed physicians said they had basic electronic medical records capability within their organizations.

The data comes from Optum Institute, part of health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group’s health IT and services division Optum, and Harris Interactive, which surveyed 1,000 physicians, 2,870 U.S. adults and 400 U.S. hospital executives between May 20 and June 12.


Consumers’ desires for online communication and access of health records is not limited to the young. The survey found that 57 percent of the seniors who participated in the survey said that they want to go online to interact with care providers and manage their health.

“While hospitals and physicians have made considerable progress in adopting new technologies, our research underscores the pressing need to increase the level of patient-facing technology to create strong, two-way patient-physician communication,” said Carol Simon, director of the Optum Institute, in a news release.

Here are some more results:

76 percent of patients are willing to go online to view test results
65 percent want appointment reminders via email
62 percent of patients want to communicate online with their primary care physician
Physician use of EMRs has increased sharply t0 70 percent from 55 percent since November 2011
Only 46 percent of physicians currently haveEMRs that provide patients with tailored information to assist patients in decision-making and self-management



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