Healthcare Consumers’ Voluntary Adoption and Non- Adoption of Electronic Personal Health Records

Abstract: The use and ready availability of electronic health records is broadly purported to have the potential to improve health outcomes for individual healthcare consumers, providers and the healthcare system as a whole. Unlike electronic health records that are created and managed by providers, personal health records (PHR) are controlled by the individual consumer and the persons/entities to which they choose to grant access. Studies show while more healthcare consumers have access to PHRs, their voluntary adoption is lagging. Yet, our understanding of adoption lag is also lacking. In this qualitative study, we investigate: (1) how individual healthcare users in Connecticut currently manage their personal health information, (2) whether they have adopted an electronic PHR and the considerations that influenced the volitional adoption or non-adoption of a PHR. Initial findings casts new and surprising understandings including how healthcare consumers would like to use PHRs.