Seniors Using Online Tools For Healthcare

Think that seniors are Internet-phobic? Think again. Kaiser Permanente reports great benefits from its Internet tools to help seniors manage their own healthcare. A recent survey by Kaiser Permanente showed a little bit about how and why the health provider succeeded.Kaiser surveyed 4,500 of its senior users, and found that 87% were satisfied or very satisfied with the technology, according to a podcast on eHealthBeat, a daily news servie of the California Healthcare Foundation.

"Our concern that our senior population is not comfortable using the Internet is very much alleviated," said Jan Oldenburg, senior practice leader of Kaiser Permanente's Internet Services Group. "The tools are easy to use, you don't have to be highly sophisticated to engage in them and find them useful. And I think the other thing that [the survey] says is we're hitting the amrk in terms of the kinds of services that we offer."

The MyHealthManager tool allows patients to schedule appointments, e-mail doctors, e-mail test results, and refill prescriptions online.

Seniors look for a clear, direct benefit in using digital technology, Elizabeth Boehm, a principal analyst at Forrester Research, told iHealthBeat. Large fonts and a lot of white space in Web design is also helpful. And seniors want a linear experience rather than open-ended options.

I don't think the preference for linear experience is limited to seniors. I'm happy to click around and explore in Facebook or Second Life, but when I'm online refilling a prescription or checking office hours of a medical lab, I'm not in the mood for big hairy World of Warcraft quest. I just want to get on the site, get the job done, and log out with a minimum of hassle.

Interestingly, Forrester found that seniors are split by age in how often they use the Internet. A Forrester study showed that more than 60% of seniors aged 64-73 went online at least once a month, but only 20% of seniors 80 and older did. Thats a challenge for organizations like AARP, which serve people age 50 and older; they need to serve younger constituencies that prefer to get information online as well as older constituencies that still prefer the phone.

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