An Electronic Health Record–Based Strategy to Systematically Assess Medication Use Among Primary Care Patients With Multidrug Regimens: Feasibility Study

BACKGROUND: Medication nonadherence and misuse are public health and patient safety concerns. With the increased adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), greater opportunities exist to communicate directly with, and collect data from, patients through secure portals linked to EHRs. OBJECTIVE: The study objectives were to develop and pilot test a method of monitoring patient medication use in outpatient settings and determine the feasibility and acceptability of this approach. METHODS: Adult primary care patients on multidrug regimens were recruited from an academic internal medicine clinic by a trained research assistant. After completing a baseline, in-person interview, patients were sent a link to a questionnaire about medication use via the patient portal. One week later, the RA contacted patients to complete a follow-up telephone interview assessing patient satisfaction and experience with the questionnaire. Patient EHRs were also reviewed to determine the questionnaire completion rate. RESULTS: Of 100 patients enrolled, 89 completed the follow-up interview and 82 completed the portal questionnaire. The mean age of the sample was 61.8 (range 31-88) years. Approximately half (54/100, 54%) of the sample was male, two-thirds were white (67/100, 67%) and 26% (26/100) African-American. A total of 44% reported an annual household income of <$50,000 per year, and 17% (17/100) reported a high school or less level of education. No significant differences were found in questionnaire completion rates by sociodemographic characteristics or prior portal use. Most (68/73, 93%) found the questionnaire easy to access, easy to complete (72/73, 99%), and valuable (73/89, 82%). Time constraints and log-in difficulties were the main reasons for noncompletion. CONCLUSIONS: The portal questionnaire was well received by a socioeconomically diverse group of patients with high completion rates achieved. Routine use of a portal-based questionnaire could provide a valuable signal to providers and care teams about patient medication use and identify patients needing additional support.