Telemedicine and other health IT tools could help reduce health care disparities among low-income and minority populations, Garth Graham, HHS deputy assistant secretary of minority health, said during a National Health IT Week keynote speech on Wednesday, Healthcare IT News reports.
He noted that the federal economic stimulus package calls for health care providers to collect information on ethnicity, gender and race in an effort to document disparities in care. Researchers then could analyze such data to improve patient care, he said.
Graham also noted that low-income and minority populations are likely to seek out health information online. Therefore, the government and other stakeholders could create Web-based resources to promote various health care goals, he said.
In addition, Graham said telemedicine technologies could help reduce health disparities because many low-income and minority residents have access to mobile technology (Hardy, Healthcare IT News, 9/23).