Perceptions about use of a patient Internet portal among Medicaid beneficiaries.

Patient Internet portals that allow patients to access their personal health information are an emerging form of enabling technology. The purported benefits from increasing use of information technology in healthcare, however, may not be universal because of a widening digital divide along racial and socioeconomic lines. In this pilot study, we surveyed 31 Medicaid beneficiaries to ascertain their interest in and projected use of a healthcare patient Internet portal. We found that most Medicaid beneficiaries were very interested in accessing personal health information about themselves or their dependents online. Moreover, ninety percent of respondents reported that they have access to the Internet, and sixty-eight percent of those with Internet access use the Internet once a week or more.