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Ensuring Equal Accessibility to Consumer Health Informatics in the Public
The information context in today’s age provides stakeholders of the healthcare sector, specifically physicians and patients, with the capacity to decrease the gap in knowledge between the respective parties as far as medical treatments are concerned. However, it is impossible to ignore the way the same context may affect both parties considerably by establishing a considerable disparity regarding information and understanding. Primarily, an extensive information gap may be developed between stakeholders who can access novel technology and parties that have been secluded. Patient and physician groups that possess the highest demand for consumer health informatics may be affected significantly especially if they are unable to access these forms of technology. After all, information technology resources are somewhat challenging to distribute due to disproportions in access to information.
Secondly, it is essential to assume the inverse relationship between the availability of proper information for physicians and patients as well as the level of demand for the respective resources. Even though the present information context allows the stakeholders in question to obtain consumer health informatics, chances are that only those that demand these resources to a considerable extent are the ones unable to access them efficiently. Lastly, the role that market forces assume in the distribution of information resources within the health sector widens the gap in question. By allowing the health sector to function in a free-market manner, consumer health informatics may be reserved to stakeholders that can secure these resources and be unavailable for populaces affected by socio-economic conditions such as poverty, low levels of education, and low health.
The distribution of consumer health informatics stands to create a wider gap between those that can access such resources and those that require it the most. For populaces affected by such problems as low health, poverty, and low education levels, access to these resources may prove complex. This difficulty occurs even though they require these services considerably. In this respect, the focus should shift towards the application of public health policies that ensure proportionate access to consumer health informatics by disrupting free-market forces.