About 48 percent of patients in a recent survey said their doctor was using an electronic health record during their most recent visit to their physician.

A little more than 30 percent of survey respondents said their doctor was still using paper charts and notes in a folder and 11.8 percent did not know or remember.

The report, which was conducted by GfK Roper, a division of GfK Custom Research North America, for San Francisco EHR provider Practice Fusion, surveyed 1,000 adults nationwide.

According to survey results higher income patients saw greater electronic health record use by their physicians (52.9 percent of respondents with incomes over $50,000 a year compared to 45.2 percent for those with incomes under $20,000 a year).

The survey also found that more women (52.8 percent) than men (43.7 percent) reported EHR use by their doctors.

When survey respondents were asked whether or not they would like to see their doctor "go digital" – use a computer for their patient records and make notes while meeting them in the examination room – 38.4 percent said they would, 32.7 percent said they would not and 28.9 percent said they did not care either way.

Officials at Practice Fusion said the health IT landscape has changed fundamentally in the first year since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law.

"ARRA's $19 billion for health information technology has effectively created a black swan; during a deep recession, the health IT sector is booming and how we think about health data is being fundamentally redefined," said Ryan Howard, the company's CEO. "I see the change in the exponential growth of our company. Doctors see it through the availability of innovative new technology.  Educators see it through grants and the creation of new health IT courses.  Patients see it in their doctor's office."