Doctors favor electronic health records

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. physicians say electronic health records are more secure than their paper counterparts, but patients are not as convinced, a survey said.

A survey conducted by GfK Roper for Practice Fusion asked patients about their views on the safety of EHR vs. paper charts, while a separate survey posed the same questions to medical professionals. Practice Fusion provides a free, Web-based Electronic Health Record system to physicians.

Fifty-four percent of the physicians said EHRs are safer, with only 18 percent selecting paper as the safer option.

Of the doctors who said EHRs are more secure, 63 percent said access to records when needed was the top benefit. Of those who favored paper records, 36 percent said they were less likely to be hacked or lost, the survey said.

Forty-seven percent of the patients said they thought paper medical records were safer, while 39 percent said they believed EHRs were safer.

Of patients who say EHRs are safer, 77 percent strongly agreed being able to access records when needed is the greatest benefit of EHRs over paper and of the patients favoring paper, 59 percent said it was the more private option.

The survey of 1,006 U.S. adults was conducted Oct. 21-23. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points. The physician survey was conducted online Oct. 28.