Study: Paperwork discourages wellness visits by consumers

Given that an automation vendor issued the study, the conclusion isn't a huge surprise, but its conclusions are still pretty intuitive.  According to research commissioned by IBM, one in four U.S. residents has not scheduled a "wellness" visit with a physician within the last year, and paperwork seems to be a factor.

The study concluded that of those who haven't had a wellness visit within five years, 33 percent said that it's a waste of time filling out repetitive paperwork at their doctor's office; 17 percent of those who actually did have a wellness visit in the last year also cite paperwork as discouraging.

Other stats from the study include that 54 percent of respondents said they were interested in viewing their health records on the web, and 60 percent of U.S. residents, ages 18 to 29, want online access to health records. However, less than one-fifth of U.S. residents surveyed said that their physicians use the web to communicate with patients.

To learn more about the survey:
- read this iHealthBeat.org piece

Related Article:
A wellness phone?

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