Shared Health Data

design. deliver. better health with your own information

Shared Health Data - design. deliver. better health with your own information

Tag Archives: survey

Patient Networking Research: Users Benefit With and Without Physicians

This month the Journal of Medical Internet Research published a study of users of Patients Like Me, a patient-directed networking site supporting people with conditions ranging from HIV to fibromyalgia to Parkinsons and multiple sclerosis.

Sharing Health Data for Better Outcomes on PatientsLikeMe. Paul Wicks, PhD; Michael Massagli, PhD; Jeana Frost, PhD; Catherine Brownstein, PhD; Sally Okun, RN; Timothy Vaughan, PhD; Richard Bradley, RN; James Heywood, SB.

As I read it I paid particular attention to bias, since it comes from the website owners. The authors did a respectable job describing study limitations, including likely response bias among those more engaged in their health, and confiding they were looking for positive results.

Among 6825 website “members” presented the survey, 1323 (19%) responded. Responders said the tool helped most in learning about symptoms or medication side effects, recording symptoms or understanding treatment effects. Users gained insight into their condition and increased their coping abilities. Among those with HIV, 71% gained interest in their lab results. Given the degree of social support with such a site, user benefit of self-care is hardly surprising.

What responders said about using Patients Like Me in the context of clinical care was more intriguing.

About 1 out of 3 printed and shared summaries of their symptoms, treatments and outcomes with their clinician. Because of their participation, 2 out of 3 said it was easier to communicate with clinicians (21% a lot) and felt more involved in treatment decisions.

A small but too-big-to-ignore number said they changed providers as a result of website use. It’s unclear what this actually represents. Perhaps users or survey responders have lower access to care; perhaps it does indicate empowerment and raised expectations. As a cross sectional survey, the relationship between usage and behavior cannot be discerned. The authors recognize this, stating

…further research will be needed to elucidate the causal chain: is it that engaged users find more benefit, or that patients who have benefited from the site come back to use more of its features?

Indeed, more research is needed now. Studying the interaction between online support and clinical care, using longitudinal cohort designs, should be supported. Finding an association between site usage and changes in patient (and clinician) behaviors and outcomes has implications for promotion and clinical integration – in particular, linking valuable sites to patient portals and personal health records.

Partnerships wanted: clinical centers, researchers and robust patient online networking sites.

What’s your idea for research and evaluation?

PHR Non-Users Are Telling Us: What’s in the PHR Black Box?

The California Healthcare Foundation recently released a national survey of PHR use and users. Consumers and Health Information Technology: A National Survey, shows that PHR use continues to be less than 1 out of 10 but is increasing slowly – more so on the west coast. Findings are consistent with prior studies showing users perceive benefit in seeing their health information, like to make sure it’s correct and feel they know more about their health as a result.

What I’d really like to know is who are the non-users of PHRs and what are they thinking. Some results get at this, but not quite. Perceptions of those with lower education and more chronic conditions are key for moving PHRs ahead. Why? Because current “PHR users” are the low hanging fruit. E-patients are online doing lots of things beyond taking care of their health. They’ll use PHRs out of the gate, with little prodding. It’s the rest of the people we should care about.

The sample size of PHR users was reasonable but not huge, N = 266. One particularly great finding was that those with incomes less than 50K were almost twice as likely to feel more connected with their provider (58%) compared to those making 50K or more (31%). Now that’s value.

And the the non-PHR users? We see what functions non-users are interested in, but don’t see their views broken down by demographics or chronic conditions. One telling piece of information is this: among all adults surveyed (remember, over 90% don’t use PHRs), 57% were not sure or not aware of PHRs. Furthermore, 90% of PHR users not using particular functions said they wanted to look at test results, and 84% want to see if their health information is correct.

Taken together, we don’t need to advertise PHR trust and privacy. We need to tell people what’s in the black box – and help them know how patient portals and PHRs can help them. But first, they have to aware of them. Second, they have to understand how to get at what they want and need. Houston, we have a social marketing and an education challenge.