Hospitalized patient portal access in the post-information blocking rule era

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Digital Health Equity
• Patient Engagement

Background:

• The 21st Century Cures Act mandates timely patient access to electronic medical records (EMRs).
• Limited research exists on patient portal utilization among hospitalized adults.
• Understanding portal use is crucial for equitable information access.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine characteristics of hospitalized adults with existing patient portal accounts.
• To identify demographic factors influencing patient portal access during hospitalization.

Main Methods:

• Single-center, cross-sectional observational study at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).
• Analyzed adult hospitalizations from April 2021 to March 2023.
• Primary outcome: proportion of patients with an active EMR portal account (PatientSite).

Main Results:

• 31.0% of 43,588 patients had an active PatientSite account; 54.0% accessed it during hospitalization.
• Older, Black, male, non-English speaking, Medicaid, and out-of-state patients were less likely to have active portal accounts.
• Disparities in portal login and accessing clinician notes were observed, though smaller than account access disparities.

Conclusions:

• Patient portal utilization is low among hospitalized patients.
• Significant disparities exist in portal access based on race/ethnicity, gender, age, and insurance status.
• Addressing these disparities is essential for equitable EMR access.