JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The existence of lower patient portal use among Black Americans is concerning as portals have been shown to improve the control of chronic conditions that are more prevalent and deadlier in Black Americans than the rest of the population. Portal websites at their very simplest connect patients to their electronic health records and often provide tools for patients to interact with their own health information, treatment team members, and insurance companies. However, research suggests that Black American patients have greater concerns over lack of support, loss of privacy, and reduced personalization of care relative to others in the population, which results in a disparity of portal use.

Objective:

This qualitative investigation of primary care experiences of Black Americans from across the United States, who participated in remote focus groups in April and May 2020, explores the use and perceived value of patient portal websites to better understand any barriers to optimized treatment in the primary care setting.

Methods:

To qualitatively assess the experiences of Black American patients with regular access to portal websites, we performed inductive thematic analysis of eight remote focus group interviews with Black American patients aged 30-60.

Results:

Thematic analysis uncovered the following interrelated themes regarding patient portals in primary care: 1) optimization of care; 2) patient empowerment; 3) patient-provider communication; and 4) patient burden.

Conclusions:

In contrast to what has been described regarding reluctance of Black Americans to engage with patient portals, our focus groups revealed general acceptance of patient portals, which were described overwhelmingly as tools with potential for exceptional, personalized care that may even work to mitigate the unfair burden of disease for Black Americans in primary care settings. Thus, opportunities for better health care clearly exist with increased communication, experience and adoption of remote health care practices among Black Americans.