Patients’ use of smartphone apps for health record access in 2019: A cross-sectional study

• Published in: International journal of medical informatics (Shannon, Ireland) Ireland), 2022-10, Vol.166, p.104858-104858, Article 104858
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Oliver T., Renfro, Chelsea P., Hughes, Jonathan, Kumar, Sajeesh, Alishahi Tabriz, Amir, Hong, Young-Rock, Hanna, Karim, Feldman, Sue S., Schlossman, David M., Turner, Kea
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Digital divide; Mobile access; Patient portal
• ISSN: 1386-5056; 1872-8243
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2022.104858

•National-level data were used to estimate the prevalence of patients’ use of smartphone apps to access their patient portal.•About 39% of patients reported use of a smartphone app to access their patient portal.•Differences in smartphone app use to access the patient portal were observed by age, race/ethnicity, household income, and use of smartphone-only internet (i.e., only source of internet is the smartphone). The 21st Century Cures Act has expanded patients’ access to portals through smartphone applications (apps). To date, the prevalence of patient portal smartphone apps use is unclear, especially on a national scale. Using the 2019 Health Information National Trends Survey, we assessed factors associated with patient portal adopters accessing their records through a smartphone app. Multivariable logistic regression models were conducted and we reported results using predicted probability. Across a weighted sample of 75,324,288 respondents, 39 % reported using a smartphone app to access their health records. Adults with smartphone-only internet (40.0 %; 95 % CI: 35.4–33.3) were more likely to use a smartphone app compared to adults with home internet access (30.6 %; 95 % CI: 27.9–44.7). Optimizing the implementation and delivery of patient portal content via smartphone apps may improve their reach to patients.