Elderly may have trouble accessing online health records

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Electronic medical records will let patients access their health information over the Internet, but a new study suggests some of the most vulnerable older Americans may be left behind. Functional impairments, including physical disabilities such as the loss of a sense or the ability to walk, make it difficult for people to live in their community, take care of personal finances and coordinate transportation. “If you look at the subgroup of people functionally impaired, there was also a doubling (of Internet use) there but it was still remarkably low,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. S. Ryan Greysen, from the University of California, San Francisco. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees those two U.S. government-run health insurance programs, wants doctors to go digital.