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Evaluating patients' willingness to utilize health information technology (HIT): Use of patient portals in underserved communities
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.
Learning Areas:
Communication and informaticsLearning Objectives:
Identify the percentage of underserved patients that would be empowered to use technology in order to access their medical information.
Analyze additional associations between patient demographics and the use of patient portals to access medical records.
Describe how providers of underserved patients can encourage patient portal use, and alternatives for those patients less inclined to use technology.
Keyword(s): Information Technology
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been conducting research with a federally funded grant evaluating the Patient Center Medical Home and its transformation in multiple community health centers in South Florida. I am also a student completing my doctorate of osteopathic medicine as well as my masters in public health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.