The American Public on Health Care-The Missing Perspective - (Page 39)

Figure X. Interest in EHR 100 Figure Y. Americans agree an EHR would: Likely to use an EHR system Currently use an EHR system Have heard of EHR 80 59% 60 52% 44% 55% 39% 37% 23% 53% 38% 24% 49% 32% 16% Improve quality of care 40 20 53% Help you better manage your health 0 National San Francisco Detroit Miami 48% Reduce cost of care records. While less than a quarter (23%) of those surveyed currently use an electronic health record (EHR) system, nearly twice as many (44%) would be interested in using such a system if it were available (see Figure X ). Majorities think it could improve their quality of care (59%) and help them better manage their own health (53%). Just under half (48%) are interested because they believe using an EHR could reduce the cost of their health care (see Figure Y ). Some in Detroit are familiar with the benefits of EHR: by email, where their drugs can be prescribed by email, it does make a huge difference.” However, a recent national survey estimated that only 4% of U.S. doctors currently possess a fully functional EHR 18 system. Many more physician practices are interested in using an EHR system, but cost and complexity are barriers to adoption. Studies have suggested that sharing health records through electronic systems could save the health care system as much as $80 billion per year while reducing medical errors and increasing the quality of care.19 A key to achieving these efficiencies is the development of national standards for EHRs that address existing technological, legal, financial, and organizational barriers to their wider use.20 Our current multiple-payer system makes it difficult to coordinate access, whether for patients to make informed decisions about their care or for providers to assess a patient’s health on a broad scale. Questions about who would pay for a nation-wide EHR system and who would institute and maintain the standards for such a system must be determined before the country as a whole can move forward. For now, according to the Accenture Institute for Public Service Value study, Americans have “the largest amount of information available to them.” On the other hand, they also face “the most complex task in finding answers to their questions” compared with the five other countries examined in the study.21 The public’s willingness to share health information is a major asset that could revolutionize the practice of “evidencebased medicine,” which enables health care providers to make diagnoses and recommend courses of treatment based on data about what has worked in thousands or even millions of cases. “The organizations that have a fully developed electronic health record, one in which they’re able to document everything about an individual patient, where the patient can access their physician 18 RWJF HIT, p. 1, 19 RWJF HIT, p. 6, 20 RWJF, Health Information in the United States: The Information Base for Progress, pp. 5:42-5:47, 21 Accenture, p. 21 39

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