Electronic patient portals can be beneficial in providing direct engagement and clarity to avoid unnecessary extra provider encounters. This study assessed whether portal usage among endourology patients affected telephone call frequency, unscheduled physician visits, Emergency Department (ED) presentations and complication rates.
Retrospective chart review of patients undergoing elective endourology procedures by a single surgeon at a tertiary Urology center from July 2017-July 2018. Patient demographics, operative details, patient portal (MyChart) registration, patient-initiated MyChart messages, telephone encounters, unscheduled physician visits, and ED presentations during a 1-month period before and after the procedure, were identified. Logistic regression analysis assessed relationships between MyChart use and study outcomes.
We identified 313 patients (200 MyChart users, 113 non-users) who underwent 374 procedures. MyChart users were younger (56 vs 61, p=0.0011) and more likely to be married (69.5% vs 48.7%, p=0.0004). Mychart users made less telephone calls, prior to (1.1 vs 1.2, p=0.005) and post procedure (0.9 vs 1.3, p=0.029) and had less ED visits (8 vs 18, p=0.0005). On multivariable analysis, MyChart non-users were 4.55 (95% CI 1.92--11.11) times more likely to have an unscheduled clinic visit (p=0.0006), 1.92 (95% CI 1.075-3.333) times more likely to have an ED visit (p=0.028) and 2.7 (95% CI 1.43-5.26) times more likely to have a post-operative complication (p=0.0026).
Patients undergoing endourology procedures who use MyChart make less telephone calls and are significantly less likely to have an unscheduled clinic/ED visit or a complication.
The Journal of urology. 2020 Apr 24 [Epub ahead of print]
Naveen Kachroo, Donald Fedrigon, Jianbo Li, Sri Sivalingam
Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio., Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio.