Reuters report: Patient portals underutilized
Published by
Steve Wong
on
Most U.S. patients not using online medical portals, partly due to unequal digital access, literacy
Health Affairs found most people in the U.S. with health insurance don’t use the patient portals that are increasingly provided by doctors for online communication. Overall, 63% hadn't a patient portal during the past year and 60% said they hadn't been offered access to a portal. Nonusers were more likely to be men, aged 65 or older, unemployed, live in a rural location, have public insurance through Medicaid, have a high school diploma or less and lack a regular doctor. Among the reasons participants gave for not using online portals, 25% mentioned issues with internet access, 32%said they had no online medical record, 70% said they preferred to speak directly to the doctor and 22% were concerned about privacy issues. The authors say doctors will need to do more to help patients use portals during visits, as well as connecting them to resources for digital support such as local libraries and community groups.