Study finds age, race disparities in hospital patient portal use

Patient portals are often touted as a tool to improve patient engagement by giving patients digital access to their health records and ways to communicate with their care team.

But merely providing access to technology has not helped to close the digital divide for African American and older patients, a new study finds.

Older and African American patients have much lower usage of patient portals compared to younger and white patients, respectively, according to research from The Ohio State University College of Medicine published Wednesday in the journal Telemedicine and e-Health.