87% of patients believed provider access to their full medical history Is vital to personalized care, according to a new digital health survey released today by Transcend Insights, a population health management company. The report reveals that in the era of digital health, patients have very high expectations for medical information sharing, but they may not be aware of the health care industry’s current limitations.
To gather these and other insights, Transcend Insights conducted an online survey among 2,597 U.S. adults who have seen a doctor within the past year between January 20 and January 26, 2017. The survey found that a vast majority of patients (97 percent) believe it is important for any health institution, regardless of type or location, to have access to their full medical history in order to receive high-quality care.
Patients were also asked to rate factors that are most important to receiving personalized care. Top priorities for patients included having access to their own medical records (92 percent) and the ability for care providers to easily share and receive important information about their medical history—wherever they needed treatment (93 percent).
Are these demands being met?
The survey suggests that there could be a significant gap between the level of information sharing that patients expect and what is possible today. While the health care industry has undergone rapid digitization in the last decade, effectively sharing medical information and communicating across many different health care information technology systems — often referred to as interoperability —has remained elusive.
Other key findings from the survey include:
– patients may be giving the benefit of the doubt to their care providers when it comes to data sharing and the ability of their medical records to travel with them.
– When respondents were asked whether or not their doctors could easily share and access important information about their medical history – whenever or wherever they needed care—72 percent of patients believed that this is in fact happening. Unfortunately, due to ongoing setbacks in connecting the sprawling health care system, this type of open access to records is rare.
– A majority of patients (64 percent) say that they use a digital device (including mobile apps) to manage their health and 71 percent believe it would be helpful for their doctor to have access to this information as part of their medical history.
– Patients are more likely to completely trust the health care they receive from any medical professional when he or she has access to their full medical history (38 percent versus 27 percent).
– A majority of patients surveyed believed that provider access to their full medical history is important to receiving high-quality care with 87 percent of respondents indicating that PCP access, in particular, is extremely or very important to receiving high-quality care.
