Who is using a mobile app and who is using a computer to access their patient portals?

Abstract

The use of patient portals to access online medical records provides patients with multiple benefits like improving patient-provider communication, access to information, and improvements in self-management of care. Studies have shown advantages to using mobile apps in healthcare. This study examined the characteristics of individuals who reported accessing patient portals via a mobile app and those who accessed their patient portal using a website on a computer by using the publicly available HINTS data. Our results suggest that those who accessed their patient portal more frequently were more likely to use apps rather than only using websites. However, users who searched for online health information were less likely to use apps. We identified differences between patient portal app users and patient portal website users that may lead to differences in user needs and design features based on how and why these groups access the information in a specific modality.