title: Consumer perspectives on personal health records: a 4-community study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize consumer attitudes toward personal health records (PHRs) in 4 diverse communities across New York state (NYS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Combined analysis from four separate cross-sectional studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
  
  
  RESULTS
  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).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, 525 E 68th St, Rm M-610A, New York, NY 10065. E-mail: err9009@med.cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Erika L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Abramson
authors.forename: Vaishali
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: Rainu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kaushal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003256:Community Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003219:Confidentiality / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000639:trends*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D055991:Health Records, Personal; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009518:New York; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012044:Regression Analysis