Evaluating patients' willingness to utilize health information technology (HIT): Use of patient portals in underserved communities

Background: Meaningful use of EHR includes patient portals designed to allow patients to access their medical records, communicate with their healthcare providers, and download education materials. Patient’s ability to electronically view, download and transmit health information is a stage 1 menu objective and a stage 2 core objective of the CMS EHR Incentive Program. Portals hold promise to engage and empower patients in their healthcare decisions, thereby improving health outcomes. Portals can be particularly useful for underserved patients who share a disproportionate burden of chronic disease health disparities in the U.S.

Methods: We are evaluating patient experience among 500 underserved primary-care patients in PCMH Health Centers in South Florida.  As part of a 29 question interviewer-assisted survey, we asked adult patients “Would you use the internet to access your health information?”   

Results: Surveying is ongoing.  Preliminary results from 117 initial surveys suggest that 63% of patients would use the internet to access their health information.  The majority of those respondents (86%) said they would use a computer, and 11% would use a Smartphone.

Discussions/Conclusions:  Early results indicate that a majority of patients would use the internet portals to access their information. However, despite portals being available at the Health Centers, staff report that few patients actually make use of them. Further investigation will include key variables contributing to intent to use such as race, ethnicity, age, primary language and educational attainment. On-site observation and focus groups will further help to identify how we can bridge the gap between intent to use portals and actual use of portals by patients in Health Centers.