Study: French doctors dislike patient control of data
French doctors broadly welcome the country’s EHR initiative, the DMP, and agree with most of its features, a study by Ipsos for the GIP DMP – the body managing the programme – has found. But doctors object to the degree of control that the system gives patients in controlling clinician access to medical data, and a sizeable minority believe that patients should not have automatic access to their own data at all times.
79% of doctors said the programme would be useful for primary care doctors, 89% believed it useful for hospital doctors, while 80% believed it would help patients. 69% said they would recommend it to their patients today.
90% of doctors approved of emergency access features to patient data, allowing doctors to over-ride patient consent in a medical emergency. But only 37% were in favour of patients controlling clinical access to medical data in non-emergencies – with the patient-held smartcard acting as the gate-keeper. And 43% felt that patients did not have an automatic right to view their data at all times.
75% of doctors felt insufficiently informed about the DMP programme, and called for more information on the project.
