This is CHMP’s second blog post adding to the public conversation during National Health IT Week 9/16-9/20/13 #NHITweek . This post was first published on Pulse + Signal, founded by Andre Blackman, a member of CHMP’s National Advisory Council. It is reposted here with his permission.
The author of Bringing Diversity to the Health Tech Ecosystem is Dr. Ivor Horn, a physician, thought leader and health services researcher with a passion for technology, health innovation and the underserved. Learn more about her on her website.
Photo Credit: Black Girls Code Project
While we have made great strides over the last decade, minority communities are still disproportionately affected by health disparities in this country. However, there is a convergence of technology use among minority communities that has created an opportunity to disrupt the current trajectory of health disparities.
Minorities are early adopters when it comes to mobile technology for many reasons – cost, transportability and internet access to name a few. They are the fastest growing population of smartphone users and more likely to go online using their cell phones, especially to connect via social media. As early adopters of mobile technology, minority and urban communities may be best positioned to benefit from tech innovations in health care. Of note, African Americans are twice as likely as whites to use mobile health applications (15% vs. 7%) with Latinos not far behind (11%). When we asked families in our clinics if they would be interested in receiving health information via mobile, almost 90% said yes. The Pew Internet Project has great details on the use of health & tech and by whom.
– See more at: http://pulseandsignal.com/#sthash.D49dZQP4.dpuf
