Patients, physicians face health IT divide

Medpage Today: Patients, MDs Divided By IT Chasm
When it comes to consumer use of health information technology, demand seems to be outstripping supply and it's creating a great healthcare chasm. Results of a new survey show that, while three out of four patients are eager to access health records online through EMRs and more than 60 percent want to communicate with their doctor via email or other Internet technology, only 40 percent of physicians said they had the capability to interact with patients through email or give them access to their online health records. This despite the fact that 70 percent of surveyed physicians said they had basic electronic medical records capability within their organizations (Parmar, 9/27).