As shared access uptake remains low, the Coalition for Care Partners, and three healthcare delivery organizations, co-designed an initiative promoting shared access to the patient portals of older adults.
Wolff, Jennifer
Identifying, Engaging, and Supporting Care Partners in Clinical Settings: Protocol for a Patient Portal–Based Intervention
This study aimed to implement a novel patient portal–based intervention to identify, engage, and support care partners in clinical settings. Early results suggest that the intervention could be an easily scalable and adaptable method of identifying and supporting care partners in clinical settings.
A Multisite Demonstration of Shared Access to Older Adults’ Patient Portals
In this quality improvement study of 16,005 patients from 3 diverse US sites, new shared access registration was unchanged; however, use of shared access functionality among registered care partners increased. Care partners logged in more frequently, viewed more laboratory results and clinical notes, and scheduled more visits after the demonstration.
Shared access to adults’ patient portals: A secret shopper exercise
Our secret shopper exercise unveiled noteworthy variability in the experiences of 18 individuals attempting to grant or receive shared access to the patient portal, highlighting multiple barriers and facilitators to shared access. The findings underscore the imperative for cross- and intra-organizational collaboration aimed at learning from the diverse experiences of patients, care partners, clinicians, and staff, and disseminating best practices.
Patient portals fail to collect structured information about who else is involved in a person’s care
“Shared access” uses separate identity credentials to differentiate between patients and care partner portal users. EHR vendors must recognize that both patients and care partners are important users of their products and acknowledge and support the critical contributions of care partners as distinct from patients.
Co-designing an initiative to increase shared access to older adults’ patient portals: Stakeholder engagement
We partnered with 3 health care organizations to co-design an initiative that aimed to increase shared access registration and use and that can be implemented using existing patient portals. Educational materials are publicly available at Coalition for Care Partners.
Catalyzing dementia care through the learning health system and consumer health information technology
This perspective discusses how emerging payment models, quality improvement initiatives, and population health strategies present opportunities to embed best practice principles of ADRD care within the LHS. We aim to stimulate progress toward sustainable infrastructure paired with person- and family-facing innovations that catalyze broader transformation of ADRD care.
Shared access to patient portals for older adults: Implications for privacy and digital health equity
This viewpoint article discusses challenges and opportunities of systematic engagement of care partners through shared access to the patient portal that have been amplified in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and recent implementation of federal information blocking rules to promote information transparency alongside broader shifts toward care delivery innovation and population aging. We describe implementation considerations and the promise of granular, role-based privacy controls in addressing the nuanced and dynamic nature of individual information sharing preferences and fostering person- and family-centered care delivery.
Inviting patients and care partners to read doctors’ notes: OpenNotes and shared access to electronic medical records
Care partners were more likely to access and use patient portal functionality and reported improved communication with patients’ providers at follow-up. Our findings suggest that offering patients and care partners access to doctors’ notes is acceptable and improves communication and patients’ confidence in managing their care.
Patients, Care Partners, and Shared Access to the Patient Portal: Online Practices at an Integrated Health System
Shared access is an underused strategy that may bridge patients’ health literacy deficits and lack of technology experience and that helps but does not fully resolve concerns regarding patient and care partner identity credentials.
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