USDA report says telehealth services are used least by rural residents, who need it most

Rural telehealth use in 2015 (USDA chart)

A new U.S. Department of Education report says telehealth isn't being used by those who need it most. Rural Individuals' Telehealth Practices: An Overview says the need for telehealth may be greater in rural areas, but rural residents were less likely to use it.

Study author Peter Stenberg, a USDA economist, used data from the Census Bureau's 2015 Current Population Survey to analyze how Americans age 15 and older use three basic telehealth activities: online health research, online health maintenance, and online health monitoring.

Online health research is essentially what it sounds like: looking up questions about one's health and healthy practices online. Rural vs. urban response was not much different here: 17 percent of rural residents and 20 percent of urban residents conducted online health research in the survey. Education was a bigger factor: 29 percent of college-educated respondents did online health research compared to 13 percent with a high school diploma. There was no difference in responses among different income levels.

Online health maintenance means maintaining medical records, paying medical bills, and/or communicating with a health care provider. Only 7 percent of rural residents did this in 2015, compared to 11 percent of urban residents. Respondents with higher income and education were more likely do conduct online health maintenance.

Online health monitoring means using health monitoring devices such as medical alert devices or implants that connect wirelessly to the internet to constantly monitor health conditions such as heart disease. "The devices can allow individuals to stay home rather than at a hospital, hospice, retirement home, or some other health facility," Stenberg reports. 1.3 percent of rural residents used such monitoring compared to 2.5 percent of urban residents. The more income someone has, the more likely they were to use online health monitoring.

Because rural residents tend to be older, poorer and in worse health, telehealth services would be useful, but poor internet services and spotty laws are a few of the barriers to greater adoption of such services, Stenberg reports.