Grant: Project Grant - Priority Announcement: HIV/AIDS and STBBI

Too often, people living with HIV (PLHIV) face challenges, including additional diseases and psychosocial problems, that complicate self-care, like medication-taking and medical appointment attendance. Healthcare providers are not always aware when a patient faces 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 could help drive care improvement and help providers detect patients' problems. At the HIV care service of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), 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 that it is accessible to patients. For this project, we will implement a patient portal at the MUHC, a large hospital-based HIV care center in Montreal, Quebec with over 2,000 patients. Patients will log on to the portal through a smartphone application and have a calendar of HIV care appointments, patient health questionnaires to complete, and reminders for both. 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 (e.g., training) to successfully integrate a portal in HIV practices with diverse patients and learn how acceptable and usable it is for HIV patients and doctors. We will also study how the calendar and questionnaire functions impact satisfaction, attendance, and physician detection of certain health problems. We will examine how patient sex, age, and ethnicity influence the results. HIV patients, providers, and staff at the care centers will be involved in decision-making about this project. This 4½-year project will inform on how to expand portal use efficiently and equitably in other Canadian HIV care centers.