Language Barriers and Access to Hospital Patient Portals in the US

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Digital Health Equity
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Patient portals are increasingly vital for healthcare delivery.
• Limited data exists on the language accessibility of these digital health platforms.
• Ensuring equitable access is crucial for diverse patient populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the language accessibility of hospital patient portals across the United States.
• To identify factors influencing the availability of multilingual portal options.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study analyzed patient portals from 511 eligible hospitals in 17 US states.
• Data collected included portal URL, language accessibility (login prompts), vendor, and messaging availability.
• Multivariable logistic regression identified factors associated with multilingual accessibility.

Main Results:

• Only 29.4% of patient portals were accessible in English only; 59.7% in English and Spanish; 10.9% in multiple languages.
• A mere 4.7% offered access in the most common non-English, non-Spanish language of their county.
• Teaching hospitals and those using specific vendors (Epic, Cerner) showed different odds of offering multilingual portals.

Conclusions:

• A small fraction of hospitals provide patient portals accessible in non-English, non-Spanish languages.
• Prioritizing language accessibility in digital health design is essential for inclusivity.
• Further research is needed to improve language access in digital healthcare tools.