Having an active patient portal account is linked to a shorter average length of stay in the hospital for both COVID-19 patients and heart failure patients, according to a recent analysis of data from Epic's Health Research Network.
For the study, researchers examined patient admissions for COVID-19 and heart failure alongside patients' engagement with patient portals. Results showed that having a patient portal account was associated with a shorter length of stay in the hospital.
COVID-19 patients with an active portal account had an average length of stay shorter by 0.09 to 1.1 days, while heart failure patients with portal accounts were associated with an average length of stay shorter by 0.3 to 0.6 days, according to the analysis.
The difference in length of hospital stay occurred within all age groups included in the study, which analyzed patients ages 18 and up.