On Friday, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released a study detailing barriers that consistently prevent elderly, chronically ill and underserved consumers and their physicians from using health IT, Healthcare IT News reports.
The study, conducted by Oregon Health and Science University's Evidence-Based Practice Center, found that the most successful health IT systems are those that let physicians assess patients' health status, treatment plans and goals and offer new or adjusted treatment recommendations. Such systems are effective, regardless of the patient's illness, education, income status or location.
Barriers
A significant barrier to health IT adoption is patients not understanding the benefit of using computers or other technologies to manage their health problems, according to the study. Other barriers include:
- Patient time constraints;
- Lack of trust in information;
- Technical problems; and
- Lack of physician responsiveness.
The study is based on a search of studies on interactive health IT used by the target group of consumers. The American Health Information Community requested the study (Manos, Healthcare IT News, 11/17).