The future of health care in society is strongly tied to technology as sensors, wearable devices, and telemedicine continue to shift the health care paradigm. One such technology is the electronic (e-health) health portal, which provides patients with electronic access to their own medical information, allowing them to view their medical records and to interact with their clinicians. Several documented benefits of portal use to both patients and health care personnel have been identified, but adoption continues to lag in comparison with other technologies. The lack of adoption of e-health technologies in any segment of the population (e.g., elderly patients and immigrants) can create wide health care disparities that should be addressed. A study described in the September 2021 Special Issue of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking was aimed at understanding the critical success factors and barriers for e-health portal use.
The researchers investigated the role of information privacy and security, and identified factors that influence the known antecedents of adoption intentions. An analysis of 836 data records showed that while privacy and security concerns have a negative impact on attitudes toward e-health portals, increasing the awareness of privacy and security controls alleviates such concerns. The findings also suggest that individuals worry more about who possesses the right to access their health data (i.e., who, what, when, and why) than the mechanisms used to safeguard data from unauthorized access. The study found that that perceived benefits and support (i.e., emotional and technical support) positively influenced the determinants of use intentions. The implications of these findings for health care providers and policy makers are discussed. For example, health care providers must explain the benefits of e-health portals to individuals adequately to increase their acceptance of e-health portals.