Electronic patient portal utilization by neurology patients and association with outcomes

Abstract

Existing literature on electronic patient portals demonstrates mixed findings for portal user demographic patterns and relationships between portal usage and clinical outcomes. This study sought to determine characteristics of portal users specific to a neurology patient population and examine whether usage predicted decreased clinic visits and risk of hospitalization. A cross-sectional analysis on 13,483 patients seen at a tertiary neurology outpatient clinic over a 1-year period found significant associations between demographics, and interactions between age, sex, and race. Black and Hispanic patients were less likely to be portal users. While females had higher odds of portal usage overall, their probability decreased with increasing age. Portal users had higher rates of clinic utilization but no difference in hospitalization risk. These results highlight demographics that may need strategic targeting to increase portal uptake and the need for other interventions for populations more likely to experience health events resulting in hospitalization.

Patient portal registration and healthcare utilisation in general practices in England: a longitudinal cohort study

“…Patient portals have been shown to reduce no-show rates when implemented with other interventions including appointment reminder text messages that allow confirmation of attendance or cancellation by the patient and appointment reminder telephone calls [11]. Patient portal users may make fewer telephone calls to the healthcare organization [12], have lower [8,12], or no difference in visits to the emergency department visits [13], have fewer hospitalizations [8] and have increased visits to primary care or outpatient clinic visits [8,13]. However, the evidence mentioned is from studies that were performed in different healthcare settings and with portals of different functionalities [8].…”

Why developers matter: The case of patient portals

“…Existing literature in health informatics is informative with respect to patient and physician perspectives on patient data portals, 5,8,9,11,12 yet relatively little attention has been paid to the developers’ role. In terms of patients, studies have explored various factors influencing patients’ acceptance of portals, ranging from basic sociodemographics 13 to more complex factors such as behaviors with data, digital literacy, perceptions of usability, and the aesthetics of portal design. 6,12,14 Another stream of the literature has focused on the effects of portals on various patient outcomes.…”