Grant: Project Grant

Too often, people living with HIV (PLHIV) face challenges, including additional health and psychosocial problems, that complicate self-care, like medication-taking and medical appointment attendance. Healthcare providers are not always aware when patients face these difficulties. A 'patient portal' is an online application that can give patients access to their medical records, appointment reminders, and questionnaires to inform providers about their health and wellbeing. Patient portals in HIV care can help providers detect patient problems and improve care. At the McGill University Health Centre's (MUHC) HIV care service, a survey showed great interest in a patient portal among both PLHIV and healthcare providers. Yet, little is known on how best to integrate a portal in HIV care settings and ensure it is accessible to patients. In this project, we will implement a patient portal at the MUHC's HIV care service in Montreal, Quebec which has over 2,000 patients. Patients will log on to the portal through a smartphone application and have a calendar of HIV care appointments, health questionnaires to complete (previously chosen by people with HIV and healthcare providers), reminders for both and access to educational material. HIV physicians will be able to see their patients' questionnaire results to discuss them during clinic appointments. Our goal is to better understand what is needed to successfully integrate a portal in similar HIV practices with diverse patients and learn how acceptable and usable it is for HIV patients and doctors. We will also study how patient portal use impacts satisfaction, attendance, and physician detection of specific health problems. We will examine how patient sex, age, and ethnicity influence the results. HIV patients, providers, and staff at the study site will be involved in decision-making about this project. With this 5-year project, we will learn how to expand portal use efficiently and equitably in similar HIV care centers.