Doctors Say EHRs are safer than paper charts

Doctors Say EHRs are safer than paper charts

Most U.S. physicians believe electronic health records are safer than paper-based medical records, while patients are split over which system is safer, according to a survey conducted by GfK Roper on behalf of EHR provider Practice Fusion, Becker’s Hospital Review reports.

For the physician portion of the survey, 1,220 medical professionals answered an online questionnaire on Oct. 28. For the patient portion of the survey, researchers conducted phone interviews with 1,006 U.S. adults between Oct. 21 and Oct. 23.

The survey found that:

54 percent of physicians believe that EHRs are safer than paper records. Of those, 63 percent cited immediate access to records as the top benefit;

18 percent of physicians believe that paper records are safer than EHRs. Of those, 36 percent cited a lower likelihood of data being breached or stolen as the top benefit;

39 percent of patients believe that EHRs are safer than paper records. Of those, 77 percent cited immediate access to records as the top benefit; and 47 percent of patients believe that paper records are safer than EHRs. Of those, 59 percent cited greater privacy as the top benefit.