title: Healthcare consumers' attitudes towards physician and personal use of health information exchange.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health information exchange (HIE), the electronic transmission of patient medical information across healthcare institutions, is on the forefront of the national agenda for healthcare reform. As healthcare consumers are critical participants in HIE, understanding their attitudes toward HIE is essential.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine healthcare consumers' attitudes toward physician and personal use of HIE, and factors associated with their attitudes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional telephone survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  English-speaking residents of the Hudson Valley of New York.
  
  
  METHODS
  Consumer reported attitudes towards HIE.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 199 eligible residents contacted, 170 (85%) completed the survey: 67% supported physician HIE use and 58% reported interest in using HIE themselves. Multivariate analysis suggested supporters of physician HIE were more likely to be caregivers for chronically ill individuals (OR 4.6, 95% CI 1.06, 19.6), earn more than $100,000 yearly (OR 3.5, 95% CI 1.2, 10.0), and believe physician HIE would improve the privacy and security of their medical records (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.05, 7.9). Respondents interested in using personal HIE were less likely to be female (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.1, 0.98), and more likely to be frequent Internet-users (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.03, 10.6), feel communication among their physicians was inadequate (OR 6.7, 95% CI 1.7, 25.3), and believe personal HIE use would improve communication with their physicians (OR 4.7, 95% CI 1.7, 12.8).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Consumer outreach to gain further support for ongoing personal and physician HIE efforts is needed and should address consumer security concerns and potential disparities in HIE acceptance and use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Children's Hospital at Montefiore, 1621 Eastchester Road Suite 102, Bronx, NY 10461, USA. hodonnel@montefiore.org
authors.forename: Heather C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: O'Donnell
authors.forename: Vaishali
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Kern
authors.forename: Yolanda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Barrón
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.forename: Rina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dhopeshwarkar
authors.forename: Rainu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kaushal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003256:Community Participation / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology*; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000379:methods*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010865:Pilot Projects; D055815:Young Adult