JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Patient engagement is critical for realizing the value of telehealth modalities such as the patient portal. Family caregiver engagement may also be critical for facilitating use of the patient portal among adult patients, including older adults.

Objective:

We analyzed the 2019 Health Information National Trends Survey to characterize family caregivers’ use of their care recipient’s patient portal in terms of socio-demographic, health and caregiving characteristics and caregivers’ use of their own portal.

Methods:

We conducted a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional data from the National Cancer Institute’s Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) 5 Cycle 3. This survey was administered to 5,438 US adults between January-May 2019. We analyzed data from 320 respondents who identified as a family caregiver. We created measures if family caregivers’ use of their care recipient’s and their own portal, caregiver demographic and caregiving characteristics, and care recipient health characteristics.

Results:

Over half of respondents reported using their own portal at least once, while only one-third reported using their care recipient’s record in the previous 12 months. Caregivers using their own portal are significantly more likely to use their care recipient’s portal (OR=11.18, p<0.001).

Conclusions:

Policies should enable patients to designate a family caregiver who can access their patient portal. Providers could screen caregivers for challenges that may be addressed through the portal so they can better support their adult relatives. Interventions to support family caregivers, especially older caregivers, in using their own portal may facilitate their use of their care recipient’s portal. Clinical Trial: N/A