How IT Can Help Improve Healthcare

94 percent of doctors said their patients at least sometimes forget or lose track of potentially important things they are told during doctor visits.

34 percent of the doctors said they themselves at least sometimes forget or lose track of potentially important things that their patients tell them.

About three-quarters of doctors say they’d prefer a computer-based means of sharing patient information with each other; only 17 percent use these means today.

Only 5 percent of doctors today use computer-based means of sharing records with their patients&#151nearly half say they would prefer to move to that method.

74 percent of doctors said patients should be able to share their information electronically with their doctors and other practitioners.

Among the public, 10 percent reported currently having an electronic personal health record (PHR)&#151up from 3 percent reported in Markle’s 2008 survey.

70 percent of the public and 65 percent of the doctors agreed that patients should be able to download their personal health information online.

Only 4 percent of doctors say that they currently provide all their patients an online summary after every visit.

70 percent of the public said patients should get a written or online summary after each doctor visit, but only 36 percent of the doctors agreed.

70 percent to 80 percent of both patients and doctors support privacy-protective practices, such as letting people see who has accessed their records, notifying people affected by information breaches, and giving people mechanisms to exercise choice and correct information.

65 percent of the public and 75 percent of doctors agreed that it’s important to have a policy against the government collecting personally identifiable health information for health IT or health care quality-improvement programs.