Americans still wary of digital health records

Americans aren't necessarily sold on the idea that electronic health records can improve care, a new survey conducted for Xerox by Harris Interactive found.

Only 40 percent of survey respondents said they think that EHRs can boost care quality, while a little more than a quarter (26 percent) said they want their health records to be digital. More than 2,100 U.S. adults participated in the survey, Xerox's third since 2010.

What's more, 85 percent of respondents said that they had "concerns" about digital medical records.

Xerox Healthcare Provider Solutions Group President Chad Harris said in a statement that he believes such resistance represents a need for providers to continue to be proactive when it comes to helping consumers to understand the value of EHRs.

Last year, 42 percent of respondents to the Xerox survey said they believed that EHRs improved the quality of care they received. Many of those respondents had concerns about the loss of personal information due to hackers, as well as information misuse.

Despite the continued mistrust, however, many respondents also indicated that their providers were turning more to technology to take notes than in the past. Sixty percent said that providers used tablets, laptops or computers to record medical information; only 28 percent said the same information was recorded using paper and pen.

To learn more:
- here's the announcement