Is Canada ready for patient accessible electronic health records? A national scan
Date
2008-07-24
Authors
Urowitz, Sara
Wiljer, David
Apatu, Emma
Eysenbach, Gunther
DeLenardo, Claudette
Harth, Tamara
Pai, Howard
Leonard, Kevin J
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BioMed Central
Abstract
Background: Access to personal health information through the electronic health record (EHR)
is an innovative means to enable people to be active participants in their own health care. Currently
this is not an available option for consumers of health. The absence of a key technology, the EHR,
is a significant obstacle to providing patient accessible electronic records. To assess the readiness
for the implementation and adoption of EHRs in Canada, a national scan was conducted to
determine organizational readiness and willingness for patient accessible electronic records.
Methods: A survey was conducted of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Canadian public and
acute care hospitals.
Results: Two hundred thirteen emails were sent to CEOs of Canadian general and acute care
hospitals, with a 39% response rate. Over half (54.2%) of hospitals had some sort of EHR, but few
had a record that was predominately electronic. Financial resources were identified as the most
important barrier to providing patients access to their EHR and there was a divergence in
perceptions from healthcare providers and what they thought patients would want in terms of
access to the EHR, with providers being less willing to provide access and patients desire for
greater access to the full record.
Conclusion: As the use of EHRs becomes more commonplace, organizations should explore the
possibility of responding to patient needs for clinical information by providing access to their EHR.
The best way to achieve this is still being debated.
Description
BioMed Central
Keywords
Citation
Urowitz et al.: Is Canada ready for patient accessible electronic health records? A national scan. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 2008, 8:33.