By Ben Leonard, Erin Schumaker, and Ruth Reader at Politico
Black and Hispanic patients were less likely than white patients to be offered and use online patient portals, a new study from HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT found.
The disparities persisted even when adjusting for age, education and other factors in the data for 2019 and 2020.
The key findings:
— White patients were about 10 percentage points more likely to be offered and access patient portals that provide test results and other medical information than Black and Hispanic patients.
— About a third of Black and Hispanic patients accessed portals compared with about half of white patients.
— Roughly 6 in 10 people were offered portal access in 2020, up from 42 percent in 2014, a tally found in previous research.
— When the researchers looked at use among patients who were offered access, those disparities narrowed. About six in 10 Black and Hispanic patients accessed portals when offered compared with about 70 percent of white patients.
“Differences in access were likely driven by disparities in being offered a portal,” ONC economist Chelsea Richwine wrote in a blog post Thursday. “Our findings point to the important role of health care providers in increasing access to [electronic health information] by offering portals and encouraging their use.”
Why it matters: Health care organizations are adopting digital health records to provide patients with easier access to their data. The sector hopes to avoid a digital divide as health care undergoes its digital transformation.
