70% of Americans are unaware of the plan to make EHRs available to citizens by 2014

An IDC survey reveals a significant number of respondents (70%) are unaware of the US government's initiative to make Electronic Health Records (EHRs) available to citizens by 2014. Respondents, regardless of their level of awareness, are divided when asked if the government will meet this goal, with 45% confident and 43% not confident. An overwhelming majority of respondents (86%) are somewhat or very concerned about the health industry's ability to protect the privacy of personal health information in deploying EHRs. Consumers rank overcoming privacy/security (44%) as the top challenge in meeting the 2014 goal, followed by complexity and cooperation within the healthcare industry (24%). While a majority of consumers believe that Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and EHRs will favorably impact the quality of care received from primary care providers, less than half (33%) believe it will materially reduce the cost of care.