How do patients actually use and access patient portals?

As a radiologist, I'm frequently approached by various people in my life who are curious if I can review some recent MRI images for them. Naturally, I can't help but dive in and start analyzing these images. This got me thinking about patients who don't have professional medical guidance in their immediate circle. Do they examine the images themselves or go straight to the reports? And how do they access these? I'd guess mostly via smartphones, as that's the go-to for most of us, right? That's why the findings of this study by Jason Wang and colleagues are particularly intriguing to me.

🎯 So, what was the study's focus?

• It aimed to characterize how patients interact with radiology results via a patient portal. This encompassed a variety of exams, including radiography, ultrasound, CT, MRI, and PET, from July 2020 to June 2021.
• The study analyzed 1,685,239 exams, using data from electronic health records and image viewing software.

ℹ️And what were the key findings?

• About 54.1% of radiology reports were viewed by patients. MRI (70.2%) and PET (67.6%) reports had the highest viewing rates.
• Only 25.5% of the exam images were viewed, with MRI images topping the list at 40.1%.
• Viewing rates varied significantly by age and language preference: 64% in patients aged 18-39 and 34% in those 80 or older. English-speaking patients viewed reports more frequently (57.1%) compared to non-English speakers (33.3%).
• The study emphasized the widespread use of smartphones for viewing images (72.8%) and underscored the need to continue enhancing patient portal usage and making radiology results more accessible to patients.

🤔My key takeaways from this study:

1. There's substantial evidence that at least half of patients are keen to take charge of their health journey. They're actively looking at their results, eager to understand what they mean.
2. The younger demographic seems more inclined towards images, while the older group gravitates to the reports. This insight is vital for tailoring patient education. Perhaps a patient-friendly report in simple language would be ideal for the 80+ age group, whereas the younger audience might appreciate annotated images.
3. Language barriers could significantly hinder patient empowerment. An automated translation of reports (think software-based reporting) could be a game-changer in this regard.
4. With smartphones being the primary device for checking results, optimizing patient portals and media for mobile use is crucial. We should also consider that many patients may not have access to a desktop computer, making mobile optimization a key step towards achieving equality and enhancing patient empowerment.

This study is a fantastic piece of work. I deeply appreciate its design and the insights it offers.

ℹ️ Wang J, Goldberg JE, Block T, Ostrow D, Carbone D, Recht M, Doshi A. Patterns of Access to Radiology Reports and Images Through a Patient Portal. J Imaging Inform Med. 2024 Feb 5. doi: 10.1007/s10278-024-00996-0. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38315344.