Directly discussing online portals with patients in the primary care setting may help increase patients' portal use, according to a study in Annals of Family Medicine.
Researchers studied the effectiveness of two patient portal promotions for patients between 18 and 75 years old: discussing online portals directly with patients at the point of care, and mailing patients information about the portals. The intervention took place at eight practices in northern Virginia between December 2010 and June 2013.
Overall, the number of online portal users increased 1 percent each month. Of the patients told about the portal during an office visit, 25.6 percent created an account to access the portal. Comparatively, the number patients who registered for the online portal after only receiving information in the mail increased 16.8 percent (according to an earlier trial).
Researchers suggest small to medium-size primary care practices can increase online portal use by patients by discussing the portal with patients as a part of routine care.
More articles on patient portals:
UPMC's patient portal advice: Go slow, keep it simple
Kentucky HIE launches patient portal
5 reasons patients use patient portals