TOPLINE:
Racial minorities, smokers, and non-English speakers with hypertension are less likely to use their patient portal to communicate with clinicians, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open.
METHODOLOGY:
- Online portals can help patients and their providers better manage chronic disease and are associated with improved health outcomes.
- Researchers analyzed data from 2021 and 2022 of over 300,000 adults with hypertension from a large healthcare system in Wisconsin and Illinois.
- They measured engagement using five metrics, including how often patients used the portal and whether they used it around the time of a visit with their clinician.
- Patient data were analyzed using patient-reported race, ethnicity, preferred language, insurance type, and smoking status.
TAKEAWAY:
- Overall, most patients used the portal at least once, more than half used it around the time of their doctor visit, and roughly one third used it more than 28 times.
- Approximately 67% of patients were White, 20% were Black, 8% were Hispanic, 3% were Asian, and 2% were another ethnicity.
- Black and Hispanic patients were 47% and 34%, respectively, less likely to use their portal compared with White patients.
- Non-English speakers were 60% less likely to use their portal compared with English speakers.
- Patients without insurance were 56% less likely to access the portal around the time of their doctor visit and 43% less likely to use the messaging function compared with commercially insured patients.
IN PRACTICE:
"Interventions and quality improvement initiatives in hypertension that are delivered via patient portals should be mindful of the disparities in engaging with patient portals," the study authors wrote.
SOURCE:
The study was led by Rasha Khatib, PhD, MHS, research scientist at Advocate Aurora Research Institute in Milwaukee, and was funded by the Live Well Intramural Pilot Grant Program.
LIMITATIONS:
Patients may have received care and used portals at other healthcare institutions. The study was limited to patients with hypertension. Researchers neither incorporated education level, income, or internet availability when interpreting data nor used data from home blood pressure monitoring delivered outside of the patient portal.
DISCLOSURES:
Julie Lauffenburger reported receiving personal fees from the American Heart Association and Alosa Health outside the submitted work. The authors reported no other disclosures.