Adoption of a Personal Health Record in the Digital Age: Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: As health care organizations strive to improve health care access, quality, and costs, they have implemented patient-facing eHealth technologies such as personal health records to better engage patients in the management of their health. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, eHealth is also growing in accordance with Vision 2030 and its National Transformation Program framework, creating a roadmap for increased quality and efficiency of the health care system and supporting the goal of patient-centered care. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the adoption of the personal health record of the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNGHA Care). Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in adults visiting outpatient clinics in hospitals at the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs hospitals in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Madinah, and Al Ahsa, and primary health care clinics in Riyadh and Qassim. The main outcome measure was self-reported use of MNGHA Care. Results: In the sample of 546 adult patients, 383 (70.1%) reported being users of MNGHA Care. MNGHA Care users were more likely to be younger (P