The American Public on Health Care-The Missing Perspective - (Page 38)

The Power of Information Figure W. Information Sharing Favor giving doctors shared access to medical records Favor including information in large database to advance research 100 80 78% 74% 77% 77% 67% 65% 57% 59% 60 40 20 0 National San Francisco Detroit Miami National San Francisco Detroit Miami The Need To Share: To Improve Quality and Accountability Contrary to conventional wisdom about privacy concerns, most Americans see the benefits of sharing health data. Three-quarters of the public (78%) favor giving physicians the means to share access to their medical records, while two-thirds (66%) see the value in including their own information anonymously in a large database that would help researchers understand more about the effectiveness and possible side effects of various treatments or prescription drugs (see Figure W). As Americans have increasing opportunities to incorporate information technology in the management of their health care, there is good evidence to suggest that they will look favorably on these advances. Studies of existing patients who engage in online interactions with their health care providers to receive prescription refills, make appointments, and get insurance authorizations, show that these patients are satisfied with the process.14 To provide citizens with better access to some of the clinical information they need, many countries are introducing universal electronic medical record keeping systems,15 as are some American states. Some countries already have national medical records networks in place. For example, in Germany, people can have all of their health records on a single computer chip that they can carry with them.16 Introducing such systems is more manageable in countries with a single-payer system (typically the government), in which the cost of implementing and maintaining the system is the responsibility of one party. The situation in the U.S. is more complex: the multiple-payer system means that each health insurance provider, each hospital, and each state has a different system and different regulations regarding medical record keeping. That, in part, may be why 90% of physician offices and 80% of hospitals still use paper records.17 “Can you imagine going to your bank and having them write out your account, keeping track of it by pen and paper and then you go to another bank and they do not have that record… we would not tolerate it. So why do we tolerate a health care system that does not have the most basic thing of a national electronic medical records system?” asks a health care provider from California. The American public’s views on the power of information extend to their attitudes about electronic health 14 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation “ Health Information Technology in the United States, 2008,” p. 6, , June 2008, 15 RWJF HIT, p. 8, 16 Catherine Rampell, “Your Health Data Plugged Into the Web,” Washington Post, September 5, 2007, p. D-1. Accessed at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/04/AR2007100400984. html, 17 Washington Post, p.1 38 http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/062508.hit.exsummary.pdf http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/04/AR2007100400984

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