Patient portal adoption and use by hospitalized cancer patients: a retrospective study of its impact on adverse events, utilization, and patient satisfaction

BACKGROUND: Portal use has been studied among outpatients, but its utility and impact on inpatients is unclear. This study describes portal adoption and use among hospitalized cancer patients and investigates associations with selected safety, utilization, and satisfaction measures. METHODS: A retrospective review of 4594 adult hospitalized cancer patients was conducted between 2012 and 2014 at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, comparing portal adopters, who registered for a portal account prior to hospitalization, with nonadopters. Adopters were classified by their portal activity during hospitalization as active or inactive inpatient users. Univariate and several logistic and linear regression models were used for analysis. RESULTS: Of total patients, 2352 (51.2%) were portal adopters, and of them, 632 (26.8%) were active inpatient users. Portal adoption was associated with patients who were young, female, married, with higher income, and had more frequent hospitalizations (P < .05). Active inpatient use was associated with patients who were young, married, nonlocals, with higher disease severity, and were hospitalized for medical treatment (P < .05). In univariate analyses, self-management knowledge scores were higher among adopters vs nonadopters (84.3 and 80.0, respectively; P = .01) and among active vs inactive inpatient users (87.0 and 83.3, respectively; P = .04). In regression models adjusted for age and disease severity, the association between portal behaviors and majority of measures were not significant (P > .05). CONCLUSIONS: Over half of our cancer inpatients adopted a portal prior to hospitalization, with increased adoption associated with predisposing and enabling determinants (eg: age, sex, marital status, income), and increased inpatient use associated with need (eg: nonlocal residence and disease severity). Additional research and greater effort to expand the portal functionality is needed to impact inpatient outcomes.