About 3 in 5 adults surveyed think the risks of using electronic health records are outweighed by their potential benefits.

Well over half of the 2,150 adult respondents said they thought electronic health records could help eliminate duplicative testing (67%), lessen medical errors (67%) and lower healthcare costs significantly (55%). Nearly 3 in 4 (74%) said they thought better care would ensue if clinicians and researchers were able to share more information using electronic health records.

However, slightly more than half (51%) thought the use of electronic health records would make it harder to keep patient records private.

The Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive poll was conducted from Nov. 12 to Nov. 14 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3%.