56 Million Patients Have Accessed Medical Information from Electronic Health Records

A recent study from New York City-based Manhattan Research says 56 million U.S. consumers have accessed their medical information on an electronic health record (EHR) system maintained by their physician, and an additional 41 million are interested in doing so. These findings come from pharmaceutical and healthcare market research company’s new Cybercitizen Health U.S. 2011 study of consumer digital health trends, which surveyed 8,745 U.S. adults (age 18 and over) online and on the phone in Q3 2011.

Additionally, the company’s Taking the Pulse U.S. physician study found that EHR adoption is rising among doctors, and will likely accelerate as iPads and other tablets facilitate EHR access for doctors on the move throughout the workday.

However, despite strong growth in EHR adoption and awareness, 140 million consumers report that they have not used and are not interested in accessing medical records from an EHR system maintained by their physician. Compared to consumers who do access their medical data on an EHR, the audience not interested in doing so is older, less educated, and significantly less likely to use the Internet or own sophisticated electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets.