Digital health and social inequality: Population-based evidence from MyHealth platform use in Catalonia

This paper evaluates the adoption and long-term use of MyHealth, the digital platform of the Catalan National Health System, covering over 9.4 million individuals and 727 million health interactions between 2015 and 2023.

The findings reveal that, despite the platform’s rapid expansion, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, access to digital health services remains deeply unequal. Women, Spanish nationals, and higher-income individuals show significantly higher and more sustained engagement, while older adults, migrants, and rural residents are consistently underrepresented.

The study concludes that digitalisation alone does not guarantee greater equity in healthcare access. Targeted policies are needed to address structural barriers, including digital literacy, linguistic and cultural accessibility, and infrastructure in disadvantaged areas.

by:

Toni Mora Research Institute for Evaluation and Public Policies (IRAPP), Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

Catia Nicodemo IDIAP JGol, Spain; University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Brunel University London, London, UK

David Roche Research Institute for Evaluation and Public Policies (IRAPP), Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

Link to the Article

Back To Top