Abstract

In order to advance the use of health information exchanges (HIE) toward the goal of a nationwide health information network, an understanding of patient attitudes and beliefs about information privacy and willingness to allow electronic sharing of personal health information is needed. Though there is general support for a nationwide health information network, patients do not seem to be favorably disposed to electronically exchanging their health information beyond their immediate providers and express concern about sharing personal health information over a HIE. The goal of this research is to gain a better understanding of patient willingness to allow electronic sharing of their health data through HIEs. Building upon the privacy calculus perspective, we propose a conceptual model linking patient concern, trust, and perceived risk in sharing personal health information to willingness to allow electronic sharing via an HIE. We seek to make two important contributions. First, we address a critical gap in our understanding of the dynamics underlying a patients’ decision to allow electronic sharing of their personal health information. Second, we adapt and extend the privacy calculus model to the area of healthcare information exchanges. Our work intends to add to a growing body of research on security and privacy of healthcare information.

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