Association between patient-provider communication and withholding information due to privacy concerns among women in the United States: an analysis of the 2011 to 2018 Health Information National Trends Survey

BACKGROUND: Electronic medical record software is common in healthcare settings. However, data privacy and security challenges persist and may impede patients’ willingness to disclose health information to their clinicians. Positive patient-provider communication may foster patient trust and subsequently reduce information nondisclosure. This study sought to characterize information-withholding behaviors among women and evaluate the association between positive patient-provider communication and women’s health information-withholding behavior in the United States. METHODS: Data were pooled from the 2011 to 2018 Health Information National Trends Survey. We used descriptive statistics, bivariate, and logistic regression analyses to investigate whether positive patient-provider communication significantly impacted health information-withholding behaviors. Data from 7,738 women were analyzed. RESULTS: About 10.8% or 1 in 10 women endorsed withholding health information from their providers because of privacy or security concerns about their medical records. After adjusting for the covariates, higher positive patient-provider communication scores were associated with lower odds of withholding information from the provider because of privacy and security concerns (aOR 0.93; 95% CI = 0.90–0.95). Additionally, we found that age, race/ethnicity, educational status, psychological distress, and smoking status significantly predicted women’s willingness to disclose health information. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that improving positive patient-provider communication quality may reduce women’s privacy and security concerns and encourage them to disclose sensitive medical information.