Consumer perspectives on personal health records: a 4-community study

To characterize consumer attitudes toward personal health records (PHRs) in 4 diverse communities across New York state (NYS).

Combined analysis from four separate cross-sectional studies.

We analyzed pooled data from surveys separately administered to 4 NYS communities. Results from individual communities have been previously published. However, pooling the data allowed us to conduct multivariable regression analyses that identified key factors associated with potential usage among a broad group of consumers.

We received responses from 701 consumers. A majority (74%) of respondents (n = 494) reported that they would use a PHR and the majority wanted a broad array of functionalities available. We found that potential PHR use was significantly associated with Internet use at least monthly (odds ratio [OR] = 5.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.3-10.2), a belief that PHRs may improve the security of health information (OR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.5-4.7), and a belief that PHRs may improve quality of care (OR = 4.1, 95% CI = 2.6-6.6).

As federal initiatives aim to improve healthcare, which includes making care more patient centered, PHRs will likely play an increasing role. Our results provide critical information to inform policy efforts, suggesting that PHRs must offer a broad range of patient-centered functionalities while maintaining high privacy and security standards to narrow the gap between reported interest and actual use. Ensuring widespread access to and frequent use of the internet among consumers will also be critical to avoid creating healthcare disparities through PHR use.