Factors Associated With Patient Portal Engagement in Otolaryngology

Objective Online patient portals are important tools for patient engagement, and their use has increased particularly since the COVID‐19 pandemic and the 21st Century Cures Act. However, prior work across various specialties has demonstrated disparities in patient portal usage with respect to age, g...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:OTO open : the official open access journal of the American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2024-10, Vol.8 (4), p.e70050-n/a
Main Authors: Siegel, Jesse K., Verducci, Chloe, Hurtuk, Agnes
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
business of medicine
health equity
Original Research
patient engagement
patient experience
patient portal
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Summary:Objective Online patient portals are important tools for patient engagement, and their use has increased particularly since the COVID‐19 pandemic and the 21st Century Cures Act. However, prior work across various specialties has demonstrated disparities in patient portal usage with respect to age, gender, race, and insurance status. However, this has not been studied in the field of otolaryngology, and not since the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Study Design Retrospective study. Setting Single tertiary care outpatient otolaryngology practice over a 3‐year period (December 2019‐December 2022). Methods We used univariate and multivariate analyses to measure how patient portal use for appointment scheduling varied before and after the COVID‐19 pandemic and across demographic groups including gender, race, age, primary language, insurance type, and primary care physician (PCP) status (Loyola vs non‐Loyola). Results From December 2019 to December 2022, 49,462 unique patients scheduled 221,611 otolaryngology clinic visits. Significantly more online scheduling occurred after the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic (10.7% vs 1.9%, P 
ISSN:2473-974X
2473-974X
DOI:10.1002/oto2.70050