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An analysis of patient portal utilization: what can we learn about online patient behavior by examining portal click data?

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Health Systems

Abstract

This paper presents a study of online patient portal utilization through the analysis of system logs. We analyze click data generated between August 2009 and July 2011 by 1886 users of an online patient portal. We investigate variations in utilization for Login and the top five system features (Appointment Review, Lab Tests, Medical Advice Request, Messaging and Result Component Graphing), and examine how age and gender influence these variations. Our findings indicate that the effects of age and gender on system use vary by feature, and that efficiency of use (how clicks are spread across sessions) varies across age, gender and feature. We provide a new approach for understanding system use through click data analysis utilizing system logs (an underutilized data source available to all health-care organizations), an example of how big data can help health-care organizations learn more about their patients’ utilization of patient portals.

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Notes

  1. MAR refers to the secure messaging feature of the system. Through this feature portal users can communicate with their provider team.

  2. The RCG feature provides portal users tools to graph their vital signs and other lab results over time.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Xin Sun for his very helpful assistance in cleaning and preparing the data for exploratory analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, U.S.A.

    Bengisu Tulu, Andrew C Trapp, Diane M Strong, Sharon A Johnson & Muyeedul Hoque

  2. Reliant Medical Group, Worcester, U.S.A.

    John Trudel & Lawrence Garber

Authors
  1. Bengisu Tulu
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  2. Andrew C Trapp
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  3. Diane M Strong
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  4. Sharon A Johnson
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  5. Muyeedul Hoque
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  6. John Trudel
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  7. Lawrence Garber
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Correspondence to Bengisu Tulu.

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Tulu, B., Trapp, A., Strong, D. et al. An analysis of patient portal utilization: what can we learn about online patient behavior by examining portal click data?. Health Syst 5, 66–79 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/hs.2015.5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/hs.2015.5

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