Provider Adoption of an Online Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder eHealth Care Application

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Health Informatics
• Digital Health Adoption
• Quality Improvement Interventions

Background:

• Adoption of ehealth technologies in pediatric settings is crucial for improving care for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
• Predictors of technology adoption among healthcare providers are not fully understood.
• Understanding these predictors can facilitate the implementation of evidence-based digital health tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify practice-, provider-, and patient population-level factors that predict the adoption of an ADHD ehealth technology.
• To assess the impact of electronic health record (EHR) integration on the uptake of a mental health quality improvement intervention.

Main Methods:

• Recruited pediatric providers nationwide to use a free ADHD ehealth quality improvement intervention (mehealth).
• Collected baseline data on practice, provider, and patient population characteristics.
• Analyzed software adoption metrics (account activation, patient registration, PDSA cycles) using multiple regressions.

Main Results:

• EHR integration significantly predicted provider account activation, patient registration rates, and practice completion of quality improvement cycles.
• Practices with a lower proportion of Medicaid patients showed higher patient registration rates.
• 1,612 providers across 813 practices participated, with 75.1% activating their accounts.

Conclusions:

• Provider adoption of new ehealth technologies is challenging.
• Seamless integration of ehealth software within existing EHR systems is critical for successful adoption in pediatric care.
• Facilitating access through EHR integration is essential for widespread use of digital health tools.