Abstract:
Context: The use Patient Web Portals (PWPs) to enhance patient care is being promoted in different countries. However, the role of PWPs use in influencing clinic visits is poorly understood. Objective: The primary objective of this review was to determine if patients using PWPs compared with those not using PWPs, influences the frequency of clinic visits. The secondary measures assessed were urgent care visits, emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalization rates and number of telephone calls per member in the clinics. Methods: A systematic review of articles in English that studied the impact of PWPs on health care service utilization was undertaken. Medline, Scopus, Cochrane Controlled trials Register and EMBASE databases were searched for articles published till 31 July 2013. Results: A total of 182 articles were identified. After evaluation for relevance, four studies were included in this review. All the studies were conducted in the United States. All the four studies evaluated the impact of PWPs on office visits, two studies reported on urgent care visits and hospitalization rates and three studies reported on emergency department visits and telephone call rates. The results on office visits were contradictory. A large matched cohort indicated a rise in office visits among PWP users while the rest of the studies indicated a decrease in office visits. The evidence however suggests an increase in urgent care and emergency department visits, hospitalization rates and telephone calls among PWP users. Conclusions: Evidence evaluating the impact of PWPs on healthcare utilization is insufficient and contradictory. More research is needed to evaluate this, as there is an increasing use of PWPs globally.