A new report from the American Hospital Association (AHA) indicates that hospitals are offering individuals more electronic access to their medical information than ever before. For example, 92% of hospitals last year offered patients the ability to view their medical records online, up from 43% in 2013; 84% allowed patients to download information from their medical record, up from 30% in 2013; and 70% allowed a referral summary to be sent to a third party, up from 13% in 2013. Patients also have a growing ability to interact with their providers and perform routine tasks online, such as pay bills (74%), securely message their care providers (63%) and make medical appointments (45%).
The report can be accessed at http://www.aha.org/research/reports/tw/16jul-tw-healthIT.pdf.