PHRs elude health consumers

Consumers are steering clear of personal health records. Although the vendors and others bringing PHRs to market have done a great job preaching to the choir at trade shows and conferences, very few prospective users of the technology have any idea why they should bother with it. Couple that with the industry’s spotty ability to safeguard patient data and you end up with a population of health consumers who prefer a “wait and see” approach to PHRs.

As a new report from IDC Health Insights points out, this lackluster uptake of PHRs coincides with the accelerated adoption of other health related technologies, such as electronic medical records, mHealth devices and apps, and e-prescribing. Called “Vendor Assessment: When Will PHR Platforms Gain Consumer Acceptance”, the report draws on feedback from an online survey conducted between Feb. 18 and Feb. 23. Some 1,200 consumers weighed in, and the results were measured against similar research performed in 2006.
 
As InformationWeek Healthcare reports: “Published last month, the survey found that widespread consumer adoption of PHRs remains elusive despite numerous PHR options offered by providers, health plans, and employers as well as third-party vendors like Dossia, Microsoft HealthVault, and Google Health.
 
“According to the IDC Health Insights' survey, only 7% of respondents in 2011 reported ever having used a PHR, and less than half of these respondents (47.6%) are still using one to manage their family's health. Further, the majority of respondents (50.6%) said that the reason why they had not used the online technology was that they were not familiar with the concept of a PHR. These results were similar to a 2006 IDC Health Insights study that showed approximately 7% of respondents indicated that they used a PC-based or Web-based PHR, and a little more than half (51.9%) were unaware of PHRs.”
 
Another key finding: Consumers remain concerned about the privacy and security of online data. According to the 2011 survey, another 9.1% of respondents stopped using their PHRs because they didn’t trust the security of the currently available Internet-based sites.
 
On the bright side, the report anticipates PHR market growth as the medical home and accountable care models kick in, with physicians recommending the technology to patients as a way to better manage their health. However, as the InformationWeek Healthcare article points out, “PHRs will need to continue to evolve from repositories of static health information to a tool that provides actionable information at the point of consumer healthcare decision making to be considered useful by consumers."

Photo obtained from Microsoft HealthVault.