A Lazy User Perspective to Patient Adoption and Use of Personal Health Records

Abstract

Personal health records (PHRs) are seen as the bedrock of patient engagement. They have the potential to improve health outcomes for individual healthcare consumers, providers, and the broader healthcare system. With Meaningful Use Stage 2 now mandating the implementation of tethered PHRs (as patient portals), will healthcare consumers actually use PHRs and realize the contributions to patient safety, quality care, efficiencies, and reduced health disparities through engagement? Or will PHR actual use remain low? In this interpretive qualitative study, using grounded theory, we asked healthcare consumers users they currently manage their personal health information (PHI) and why. Evidence from our study iterates to the lazy user theory, we found that letting physicians manage healthcare consumers PHI is the least effort-based solution and thus the predominant and preferred solution by healthcare consumers. Providers as guardians of patient PHI suggest that the low use rates may yet persist. The implicit equating of personal health information as provider-generated health information by both healthcare consumers and the designers of PHR tools they use blurs the value proposition for consumers.