Personal health record use by patients as perceived by ambulatory care physicians in Nebraska and South Dakota: a cross-sectional study.

The purpose of this cross-sectional study is to examine the awareness and engagement that ambulatory care physicians have with patients who use a personal health record (PHR). This is part of a larger study examining health information technology (HIT) and electronic health record (EHR) adoption by ambulatory care physicians in Nebraska and South Dakota. Descriptive results and inferential findings about physician awareness and engagement are presented in relationship to the physician's stage of EHR adoption, practice type and size, gender, specialty, and age. Overall, physicians' awareness of PHRs and their engagement with the technology remains low. Physicians using EHRs were more likely to be aware and engaged with PHRs than physicians who either plan to adopt EHRs or have no intention to adopt EHRs. Practice type, gender, and specialty have an association as well. The implications of the findings are discussed, and a recommendation is made that education of physicians is needed in this area as the nation progresses toward the creation of a national health information network for health information exchange.