Trends in Seniors’ Use of Digital Health Technology in the United States, 2011-2014

Trends in Seniors’ Use of Digital Health Technology in the United States, 2011-2014 The sickest, most expensive, and fastest growing segment of the US population are seniors 65 years and older.1 Digital health technology has been advocated as a solution to improve health care quality, cost, and safety. However, little is known about digital health use among seniors. Methods | The Partners HealthCare Human Research Committee exempted this study from review. The National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) is an annual in-home, computerassisted, longitudinal, nationally representative survey of community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries 65 years and older drawn from the Medicare enrollment database through a complex sampling design.2 Each year, NHATS asks the same respondents about everyday (nonhealth) technology use and 4 digital health modalities: use of the internet to fill prescrip-