Screening for chronic conditions using a patient internet portal: recruitment for an internet-based primary care intervention.
BACKGROUND
Patient Internet portals have created new opportunities for assessment and management of chronic conditions.


OBJECTIVE
To conduct an online screening survey for a study recruitment using a secure patient Internet portal to identify primary care patients with untreated depression, chronic pain, or mobility difficulty before nonurgent office visits.


METHODS
Internet-based screening survey for a randomized trial.


METHODS
Patients who were registered portal users who had scheduled primary care appointments.


METHODS
Electronic study invitations via the portal were sent to 4,047 patients with scheduled visits to 34 primary care physicians participating in the study. After clicking on a link in the study invitation, patients were consecutively shown the study description, consent form, and lastly, the screening survey to determine final eligibility for study participation.


RESULTS
Of the 2,113 (52%) patients who opened the study invitation, 1,001 consented online to join the study and 981 (98%) of these completed the screening survey. Of the respondents, 319 (33%) screened positive for 1 or more of the 3 conditions.


CONCLUSIONS
The online screening survey conducted through the patient portal was effective in identifying patients with chronic conditions in advance of scheduled primary care visits for participation in an intervention study.
Leveille
Suzanne G
SG
Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brookline, MA 02446, USA. sleveill@bidmc.harvard.edu
Huang
Annong
A
Tsai
Stephanie B
SB
Weingart
Saul N
SN
Iezzoni
Lisa I
LI
D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000628:therapy; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D018579:Patient Selection; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010821:Physicians, Family; D011320:Primary Health Care