JAMIA Journal Club Webinar - January 2023

Disparities in patient portal access and the role of providers in encouraging access and use

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Presenter

Chelsea Richwine, MS, PhD

Economist

Office of Technology at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC)

Washington, DC

Manager

Christina Baker, MS, BSN, NCSN, RN-BC

PhD Candidate - Faculty Teaching Fellow

University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus

Denver, CO

Moderator

Aaron Tierney, BA

PhD Candidate in Health Policy

UC Berkeley School of Public Health

Berkeley, CA

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Statement of Purpose

In 2020, about six in 10 individuals nationwide were offered access to their electronic health information (EHI) by their health care provider via a patient portal and 40 percent reported accessing it at least once within the past year. While overall growth in patient portal engagement is encouraging, historically, studies have documented significant racial and ethnic disparities in which groups of patients reported being offered access to their patient portal by a health care provider.  

Our work contributes to the literature by using nationally representative survey data from 2019 and 2020 to identify disparities in patient reports of being offered access to a patient portal by their healthcare provider. To understand the role providers can play in influencing patient access to EHI, we (1) compared rates of patient-reported access and use of EHI among White, Black, and Hispanic individuals in the overall sample and among those who were offered a portal by their provider and (2) examined variation in patient access among individuals who reported their provider offered them a portal and encouraged them to use it. We also examined patients’ reasons for non-use among individuals who were offered a portal but did not access or use it. Taken together, our findings shed light on inequities in patients’ opportunity to access their EHI and can help inform efforts to maximize patient access to EHI and eliminate disparities in access and use. 

Learning Objectives

After participating in the webinar, participants should be able to:

• Distinguish equal opportunity from equal access to EHI
• Recognize racial and ethnic disparities in patients’ opportunity to access EHI and differences in patient-reported access and use 
• Maximize accessibility of online medical records 
• Assist in mitigating disparities in patient access to EHI