Two in Five Adults Keep Personal or Family Health Records and Almost Everybody Thinks This Is a Good Idea

ROCHESTER, NY—August 10, 2004—Two in five (42%) adults keep personal or family health records, that is "one place where you keep all your medical records with the results of all your medical tests and details about prescriptions, vaccinations, treatments, known allergies and other health care information." Almost every one (84%) of those who do not keep health records think it would be a good idea to do so.

At the moment, only a small minority (13%) of those with health records keep them electronically but many people—40% of all those who do not have electronic medical records—think it at least somewhat likely that they will do so.

These are a few of the results of a nationwide survey by Harris Interactive^® of 2,242 adults who were surveyed online between July 12 and 18, 2004.

Other interesting findings include:

• Women (45%) are slightly more likely than men (38%) to keep personal or family medical records.
• Older people are more likely than younger people to keep personal or family medical records. Fully 58% of people over 65 do so.
• Among the many "good reasons" for keeping personal or family medical records are:

• The ability to provide doctors with useful information (78%).
• The ability to look back and recall what care was received (78%).
• The ability to have access to the record in case of emergency (77%).
• To help ensure the proper use of prescription drugs (54%).

The biggest concerns people have about keeping medical records are possible threats to one’s privacy (68%), and security (66%). Many, but far fewer, people are concerned about possible errors (37%), that critical information won’t be accessible in an emergency (37%), or that they won’t be able to keep their records up to date (33%).

This survey was conducted online within the United States between July 12 and 18, 2004 among a nationwide cross section of 2,242 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of ±2 percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (nonresponse), question wording and question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors. This online sample was not a probability sample.

To access a PDF of this Harris Interactive Health Care News with complete data tables, please visit http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/newsletters_healthcare.asp where previous issues of Health Care News are archived.

About Harris Interactive^®

Harris Interactive (www.harrisinteractive.com) is a worldwide market research and consulting firm best known for The Harris Poll^®, and for pioneering the Internet method to conduct scientifically accurate market research. Headquartered in Rochester, New York, Harris Interactive combines proprietary methodologies and technology with expertise in predictive, custom and strategic research. The Company conducts international research from its U.S. offices and through wholly owned subsidiaries—London-based HI Europe (www.hieurope.com), Paris-based Novatris and Tokyo-based Harris Interactive Japan—as well as through the Harris Interactive Global Network of independent market- and opinion-research firms. EOE M/F/D/V

To become a member of the Harris Poll Online^SM and be invited to participate in future online surveys, visit www.harrispollonline.com.

Bonnie Hughes
585-214-7541

Nancy Wong
585-214-7316