Thirty-three percent of urban patients are registered on patient portals, according to the company’s analysis of 5.5 million patients who visited an athenahealth practice between January 2016 and August 2016. By contrast, 21 percent of suburban patients and 18 percent of rural patients use patient portals.
Athenahealth researchers speculated lack of broadband might be the source of this disparity, with only 64 percent of rural homes boasting internet access, compared to 74 percent of urban homes. They also considered how poverty rates in rural areas might not allow patients to purchase computer hardware.
“Patients who live in the remaining ‘dead zones’ — rural regions with no internet access — will not have a direct, convenient connection to their doctors and health records anytime soon,” according to athenahealth. “Nor will they benefit from population health services that rely on patient portals.”
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