Patients want revamped healthcare, EMRs

Seventy percent of adults think the U.S. healthcare system needs to be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt. A large majority also want their care to include health IT such as EMRs and data exchange, according to a Commonwealth Fund survey.

A large majority of respondents want their doctors to use health IT: 88 percent thought it was important or very important for doctors to use EMRs, and 92 percent thought it was important or very important for doctors to be able to share information electronically with other doctors. Survey respondents also want to use technology to manage their own healthcare—currently, only 14 percent of adults with Internet access reported that they can access their medical records online and just one in five can schedule appointments electronically or email their doctors. Of those who can't do any of those things, half said they would like to have electronic access to records and more than half would like to schedule appointments online, and to be able to email their doctors.