90% of Patients Happy to Share Medical Records

There has been far too much kerfuffle about privacy of medical records, according to a study carried out by NPR (National Public Radio) and reported by Scott Hensley. Over half of Americans are willing to share their health data so long as it is going to be used for research. When it comes down to it, they are just not all that worried about what happens with the information in their medical records.

NPR interviewed 3, 010 people and learned that 65% were comfortable sharing their information anonymously with health care researchers. Hensley reported that responders did not give a fig for who might be using the data, whether they were government researchers, university professors, independent laboratories or drug companies. Between 81% and 92% of the respondents were comfortable sharing information with these groups. However university professors received the highest approval rating—95% of people under age 35 were willing to share with academics.

Among people willing to share medical data, the topic of research did not matter very much. Hensley noted that “every category—ranging from safety issues to reining in health costs—scored support from at least 90% of the potential sharers.”