While the federal government is incentivizing healthcare providers to implement and use electronic health records systems, and ramping up patient engagement efforts, the question of how many patients actually want to use digitized health data remains. Indeed, majorities of Americans are concerned about the security of their electronic data, according to a new poll, and more than two-thirds of respondents indicated that their physicians have not adequately explained the switch to digital records. As physicians race to adopt EHRs and collect federal incentive payments, a survey sponsored by Xerox suggests they need to do a better job educating their patients about the implications of digitized health information.
