Survey: patients lack online access to health records.

• Position: EHRS - Brief article

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According to a recent survey of 502 consumers planning to enroll in a health plan in 2016, 53% of patients say they have no online access to their healthcare data. The survey, conducted by healthcare technology company HealthMine, also found:

* 32% have had difficulty accessing their medical records at all. * 29% have had difficulty accessing their lab records.

* 29% have had difficulty accessing their insurance information.

* 25% have had difficulty accessing their prescription history. However, according to FierceHealthlT, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT recently reported that online access to medical records is growing for consumers--from 28% in 2013 to 38% in 2014, the ONC reported.

A $10 million infusion of new funding to expand the OpenNotes program to 50 million patients nationwide may help boost those numbers. The program, which gives patients real-time access to their doctors' clinical notes, has grown to cover...