Abstract
BackgroundHealthcare organizations have begun to adopt personal health records (PHR) systems to engage patients, but little is known about factors associated with the adoption of PHR systems at an organizational level. The objective of this study is to investigate factors associated with healthcare organizations’ adoption of PHR systems in South Korea.MethodsThe units of analysis were hospitals with more than 100 beds. Study data of 313 hospitals were collected from May 1 to June 30, 2020. The PHR adoption status for each hospital was collected from PHR vendors and online searches. Adoption was then confirmed by downloading the hospital’s PHR app and the PHR app was examined to ascertain its available functions. One major outcome variable was PHR adoption status at hospital level. Data were analysed by logistic regressions using SAS 9.4 version.ResultsOut of 313 hospitals, 103 (32.9%) hospitals adopted PHR systems. The nurse-patient ratio was significantly associated with PHR adoption (OR 0.758; 0.624 to 0.920, p = 0.005). The number of health information management staff was associated with PHR adoption (OR 1.622; 1.228 to 2.141, p = 0.001). The number of CTs was positively associated with PHR adoption (OR 5.346; 1.962 to 14.568, p = 0.001). Among the hospital characteristics, the number of beds was significantly related with PHR adoption in the model of standard of nursing care (OR 1.003; 1.001 to 1.005, p < 0.001), HIM staff (OR 1.004; 1.002 to 1.006, p < 0.001), and technological infrastructure (OR 1.050; 1.003 to 1.006, p < 0.001).ConclusionsOne-third of study hospitals had adopted PHR systems. Standard of nursing care as well as information technology infrastructure in terms of human resources for health information management and advanced technologies were significantly associated with adoption of PHR systems. A favourable environment for adopting new technologies in general may be associated with the adoption and use of PHR systems.
Highlights
Healthcare organizations have begun to adopt personal health records (PHR) systems to engage patients, but little is known about factors associated with the adoption of Personal health records (PHRs) systems at an organizational level
The objective of this study is to investigate the factors associated with the PHR system adoption by Korean hospitals
General characteristics of the study hospitals General characteristics of study hospitals regarding PHR adoption Table 1 presents the general characteristics of the study hospitals
Summary
Healthcare organizations have begun to adopt personal health records (PHR) systems to engage patients, but little is known about factors associated with the adoption of PHR systems at an organizational level. According to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in the United States, a PHR system is “an electronic application through which patients can maintain and manage their health information (and that of others for whom they are authorised) in a private, secure, and confidential environment.” [8] there has been no universally accepted definition of a PHR [9] and other terms such as patient portal [10], mobile or m-health for patients have been used interchangeably with PHR [11, 12] Various factors such as improved patient-provider communication, patient empowerment and involvement, provider’s financial burden on PHR investments, and privacy and security issues are known to be associated with PHR system adoption [3, 5, 9]. Hospitals are marketed directly to potential patients by vigorously advertising how well patients are looked after and how advanced the hospital infrastructure is
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
