Abstract
Purpose :
There are several possible barriers to the use of online patient portals (PP) for healthcare, including disparities and need for training to improve access and usability. We sought to determine the active usage rates for the PP and associated factors at an academic center that uses Epic, which is the most widely used electronic health records system in the U.S.
Methods :
A retrospective records review documented whether the Epic MyChart PP was active for 150 low vision (LV) patients who were previously established patients at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Ophthalmology and were newly presenting for vision rehabilitation services in 2021-23. Logistic regressions were used to determine if exam findings were related to active PP status.
Results :
About three-quarters of vision rehabilitation patients (74%) had an active PP account, whereas greater proportions of other UCLA patients had activated the PP: 83% across the whole UCLA Health system (including outside of Ophthalmology) and 81% for ocular disease clinical divisions (cornea, retina, glaucoma: range 80-82%). LV patients with worse presenting distance best-corrected visual acuity had significantly reduced odds of active PP status (OR=0.46; 95% CI: 0.22-0.99; p=0.048). There were reduced odds of having an active PP account for LV patients who received training with visual assistive mobile applications (apps) unrelated to the MyChart PP (OR=0.45; 95% CI: 0.22-0.95; p=0.036). The odds of LV patients having an active PP account was not significantly related to age, gender, previous over-the-counter hand-held magnifier use, smartphone ownership, visual difficulty with computers, tablets or smartphones, prescribed spectacle-based near add power, or recommendation for a hand-held magnifier or electronic aid for reading (all p>0.05).
Conclusions :
To improve access to healthcare information, it is important to increase the number of LV patients who actively use the PP, especially among those with reduced visual acuity. Our findings suggest the need for vision rehabilitation providers to consider implementing a training protocol to assist with PP accessibility. LV patients who were interested to learn visual assistance apps but had an inactive PP account are likely ideal candidates to learn to use the healthcare web PP and/or app.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.