Journal article
The Internet: Barrier to Health Care for Older Adults?
Practice innovations (Washington, D.C.), Vol.4(2), pp.124-132
06/2019
DOI: 10.1037/pri0000089
Abstract
Insurers, institutional and independent providers of health care have made increasing use of websites for patient communication, in the absence of data indicating that patients, especially older adults, utilize information technology (IT). The current study was designed to determine patient frequency of Internet and IT utilization across age groups. It was hypothesized that use of websites for patient communication might represent a barrier to health care for older adults. Data from 423 preexisting deidentified clinical records were used to determine whether there are differences between age groups in frequency of Internet and other IT utilization across 5 functional domains including health care. Internet and other IT utilization declined significantly with increasing age beyond 60 years. The findings indicate that people over age 65 are not a homogenous population regarding IT use. The decline in frequency using IT also advanced differently for each of 5 functional domains, suggesting that IT use is not a homogenous category. Decreasing frequency of Internet use to access health care showed the strongest association with increasing age. Findings support the hypothesis that use of websites for communicating with older adult populations might create a barrier to access to health care. It is suggested that health care protocols for working with older adults should include Internet and IT utilization as a specific area of assessment or treatment.
Clinical Impact Statement
This study adds to the literature by demonstrating specifically that use of the Internet for communicating with insurers and health care providers creates a potential barrier to health care for older adults. This finding has broad implications for Medicare, private insurers, and health care organizations, as well as clinicians in independent and small-group practices, using websites for patient access and communication.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Internet: Barrier to Health Care for Older Adults?
- Creators
- Charles M. Lepkowsky - Independent Practice, Solvang, CaliforniaStephan Arndt - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Practice innovations (Washington, D.C.), Vol.4(2), pp.124-132
- DOI
- 10.1037/pri0000089
- ISSN
- 2377-889X
- eISSN
- 2377-8903
- Publisher
- Educational Publishing Foundation
- Number of pages
- 9
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 06/2019
- Academic Unit
- Psychiatry; Biostatistics; Nursing; Injury Prevention Research Center
- Record Identifier
- 9985133948902771
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