Engaging Consumers: Research Findings: Finding 6

Finding No. 6. Misperceptions about the prevalence of health IT and electronic health information exchange are common. Almost half of consumers believe that their doctors already keep their medical records in electronic form, and a majority believe that it is likely that their doctors' medical records have a back-up copy off-site in electronic form.

Forty-five percent of adults in the Gulf States believe that their doctors keep their medical records in electronic form, 71 percent believe that it is likely that their doctors' medical records have a back-up copy off-site, and 64 percent believe that the back-up copy is kept electronically. In contrast, most physicians still use paper records. The latest data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) indicates that only one-quarter of office-based physicians reported using fully or partially electronic medical record systems in 2005.