Patient preferences for accessing medical data are shifting, says ONC

To track the use of web-based patient portals and smartphone applications by patients seeking their health information, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT released an analysis of Health Information National Trends Survey data, which regularly gathers data on many aspects of health communications. There are a number of highlights in ONC’s new publication, Individuals’ Access and Use of Patient Portals and Smartphone Health Apps, by Catherine Strawley and Chelsea Richwine, that details how access to medical records “has increased consistently over time.” The agency said in the data brief it used HINTS to assess progress in patient access amidst the implementation of Cures Rule provisions during the COVID-19 pandemic, “which likely increased demand for access to online medical records.”