During National Minority Health Month, we acknowledge the potential for health information technology (health IT) – from electronic and personal health records to online communities to mobile applications – to transform health care and improve the health of racial and ethnic minorities. Lack of access to quality, preventive health care, cultural and linguistic barriers, and limited patient-provider communication are factors that aggravate health disparities. By increasing our investment in health IT policies and standards, we can help improve the quality of health care delivery and make it easier for patients and providers to communicate with each other – a huge step toward addressing the persistence of health disparities.
The found in 2012 that African Americans and Latinos are more likely to own a mobile phone than whites and outpace whites in mobile app use, using their phones for a wider range of activities. The study showed that African Americans and Latinos use their mobile phones more often to look for health information online. This has very important implications for personal management of health and interaction with the health care system. However, barriers to widespread adoption of health IT remain. For example, a 2014 consumer engagement report found that minorities were less likely to adopt online patient portals to access their health information than were non-Hispanic whites. Additionally, limited financial capital and lack of systems that can communicate effectively with each other widen the digital divide between providers and other clinicians who provide health services to a significant number of minority communities.
At the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and the HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) are committed to reducing technology gaps across and between communities of color as a key action of the HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities and ensuring that the new electronic tools can support access to quality care and promote equity for everyone. This includes a targeted strategy focused on four core areas:
- Adoption of health IT in all communities;
- Improving patient care by creating culturally and linguistically appropriate eHealth tools;
- Facilitating secure exchange and confidentiality of patient data; and
- Patient-centered consumer engagement.
Last year, ONC, OMH and ZeroDivide convened a diverse group of stakeholders at the White House to discuss how to advance eHealth among the underserved and the role eHealth can play in achieving health equity. The discussion generated many ideas about increasing patient engagement using eHealth, identified opportunities to work collaboratively, and committed participants to taking action following the meeting. The White House Summit on Achieving eHealth Equity was followed by a webinar during which participants continued the dialogue and proposed specific action steps that are included in the briefing document.
In 2009, HHS enacted the Health Information Technology and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which laid the foundation and groundwork for health IT adoption efforts for many healthcare professionals across the United States. Today, more than 70 percent of physicians and other healthcare clinicians practicing in …read more
