Are Your Patients Keeping Data Secrets?

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Some patients expressed a desire to hide parts of their EHR from their doctor in a recent study.

Researchers at Eskenazi Health, Indiana University's School of Medicine, and the Regenstrief Institute conducted a study measuring how patients and providers perceived the ability to withhold EHR information. The study, Provider Responses to Patients Controlling Access to their Electronic Health Records: A Prospective Cohort Study in Primary Care, was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

“We designed a program that captures patients’ preferences for provider access to an urban health system’s EHR,” explained researchers. “Patients could allow or restrict providers’ access to all data (diagnoses, medications, test results, reports, etc.) or only highly sensitive data (sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, drugs/alcohol, mental or reproductive health).”

iHealth Beat reports providers could “break the glass” and view the hidden data if they thought was necessary. In the six-month study, the 23 providers chose to “break the glass” a total of 102 times.

When given the option, nearly half of all patients chose to withhold information from their EHR. When asked about patients controlling their EHR data:

●54 percent of providers said patients should be able to control who can see their EHR information

●58 percent of providers thought restricting providers' access to EHR information could be harmful to the patient-provider relationship

●71 percent of providers said that viewing restrictions on EHR data would negatively affect care quality

The study concluded, “Patients frequently preferred restricting provider access to their EHRs. Providers infrequently overrode patients’ preferences to view hidden data. Providers believed that restricting EHR access would adversely impact patient care.”