Pediatric patient portal use in one health system

Area of Science:

• Pediatric healthcare informatics
• Digital health engagement
• Health services research

Background:

• Patient portals are increasingly integrated into healthcare delivery.
• Understanding patterns of use in pediatric populations is crucial for optimizing digital health tools.
• Adolescent engagement with health information independently is a developing area of research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize active users of the patient portal among children within a large health system.
• To examine patient portal utilization by adolescents.
• To identify variations in pediatric patient portal use across different practices.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of electronic health record data from 2017-2018.
• Inclusion of 39,871 pediatric patients within a single health system.
• Assessment of portal activity defined as at least one use in the prior 12 months.

Main Results:

• Overall, 63.5% of pediatric patients were active portal users.
• Active users were more likely to be boys, privately insured, white, and English-speaking.
• Common portal functions included messaging, medication information, allergies, letters, and laboratory results.
• Over 50% of adolescents aged 15 used the portal independently.
• Significant practice-level variations in pediatric portal use were observed.

Conclusions:

• Pediatric patient portal adoption is substantial, with high engagement rates.
• Adolescent self-directed portal use becomes common by age 15.
• Disparities in portal use exist, influenced by demographics and insurance status.
• Wide variations in pediatric portal use across practices suggest opportunities for targeted interventions.