Patient trust in the privacy and security of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) markedly increased from 2012 to 2014, according to a national survey conducted by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).

"As EHR adoption and HIE increased among hospitals and physicians, consumers' concerns regarding HIE and the privacy and security of medical records declined," ONC said, adding that trust in health records is considered foundational to the development of an interoperable health IT infrastructure.

To conduct the study, ONC contracted with an external research organization affiliated with the University of Chicago, which conducted more than 6,000 surveys nationwide from 2012 to 2014. 

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Researchers found that between 2012 and 2014, the proportion of individuals who expressed concerns regarding the privacy of their medical record declined from 77 percent to 58 percent. Likewise, the proportion of individuals concerned about the security of their records dropped from 72 percent to 52 percent. The percentage of those withholding information from healthcare providers due to privacy or security concerns decreased from 7 percent to 5 percent in the same timeframe.

The study also showed that individuals who reported withholding of information from their healthcare provider due to privacy or security concerns did not significantly differ by whether their provider has an electronic versus a paper medical record.

What's more, the researchers found that patients showed strong support of their healthcare providers' use of EHRs despite any potential privacy or security concerns. The percentage of those who believed their healthcare providers had measures in place that gave a reasonable level of protection for EHRs stayed at 84 percent in both 2012 and 2014, dipping to 80 percent in 2013.

The percentage of those supporting their providers' use of EHRs despite any privacy or security concerns rose from 75 percent in 2012 to 76 percent in 2013 and to 78 percent in 2014.

"Between 2012 and 2014," the study said, "individuals expressed high levels of support for providers using EHRs and engaging in HIE for treatment purposes despite any potential privacy or security concerns."

That's a segue to one potential caveat of the results: The survey was conducted prior to announcements in 2015 of several high-profile healthcare information breaches and ONC said further monitoring is needed to see if these breaches may negatively impact individuals' perceptions.