Retention in HIV Primary Care Using a Web-Based Patient Engagement Platform: Multistate Case-Control Study.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Digital Health Interventions
• HIV Medicine

Background:

• Retention in HIV care is crucial for viral suppression and preventing transmission.
• Traditional methods for appointment scheduling and confirmation rely on phone calls.
• A digital platform (Healthvana) was piloted to send SMS reminders and provide a patient portal for appointment and lab result access.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of SMS appointment reminders and a web-based patient portal in improving retention in HIV care.
• To compare a digital intervention strategy against traditional methods for patient engagement.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective analysis of 40,028 patients with HIV across 61 centers was conducted.
• The study compared patients using the Healthvana digital platform with those using traditional methods.
• Binary logistic regression models assessed the impact of SMS reminders and portal logins on appointment completion.

Main Results:

• Patients receiving SMS reminders were 1.6-1.8 times more likely to complete scheduled appointments.
• Patients logging into the patient portal were 2.8-7.4 times more likely to complete scheduled appointments.
• Both SMS reminders and patient portal use demonstrated statistically significant improvements in appointment completion (P<.001).

Conclusions:

• Engagement with Healthvana's digital platform significantly increased HIV primary care appointment completion.
• Digital technology interventions are essential tools for improving patient adherence and combating the HIV epidemic.