title: A national survey of parent perspectives on use of patient portals for their children's health care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess parents' current utilization and future willingness to use patient portals to interact with their child's health care provider.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey of a nationally representative sample of US parents was conducted using an established online panel. Bivariate analyses assessed associations between current utilization and future willingness to use patient portals, parental concerns, and demographic variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 1,420 parent respondents, 40% did not know whether their child's health practice offers the option of setting up a patient portal for their child. Of the 21% of parents who reported being offered the option of setting up a patient portal for their child, 59% had done so. Among parents who had the option but chose not to set up a patient portal for their child, lack of time and low perceived need were the main reasons cited. Current use and likelihood of future use was highest for viewing lab results and immunization records. The most common concern about patient portals was the security of the child portal system.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Current use of patient portals by parents is low. Only about half of parents currently using or likely to use a portal perceive value in using portals for certain tasks, which suggests that providers will need to continue traditional communication mechanisms to reach their entire patient population.
authors.affiliation: Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: L E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Costello
authors.affiliation: Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gebremariam
authors.affiliation: Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Dombkowski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014584:User-Computer Interface
keywords: Patint portal; meaningful use; parent-provider communication
references.citation: J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2009 Sep-Oct;16(5):660-9
references.pmid: 19567793
references.citation: Am J Prev Med. 2010 Feb;38(2):127-37
references.pmid: 20117568
references.citation: J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Jul;126(1):166-8
references.pmid: 20546882
references.citation: Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2011 May;165(5):405-11
references.pmid: 21536954
references.citation: J Gen Intern Med. 2011 Oct;26(10):1117-23
references.pmid: 21647748
references.citation: J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2011 Dec;18 Suppl 1:i8-12
references.pmid: 22071530
references.citation: J Am Board Fam Med. 2012 Mar-Apr;25(2):158-67
references.pmid: 22403196
references.citation: Pediatrics. 2012 Jul;130(1):e183-90
references.pmid: 22689872
references.citation: Fed Regist. 2012 Sep 4;77(171):53967-4162
references.pmid: 22946138
references.citation: Am J Med Qual. 2012 Nov-Dec;27(6):494-502
references.pmid: 22517909
references.citation: Acad Pediatr. 2013 May-Jun;13(3):264-71
references.pmid: 23680344
references.citation: J Pediatr. 2013 Jul;163(1):280-1.e1-2
references.pmid: 23541773
references.citation: Ann Intern Med. 2013 Nov 19;159(10):677-87
references.pmid: 24247673
references.citation: Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013 Dec;21(12):E709-14
references.pmid: 23512908
references.citation: JAMA. 2014 Feb 19;311(7):734-5
references.pmid: 24549555
references.citation: Health Informatics J. 2014 Jun;20(2):151-62
references.pmid: 24056751
references.citation: Pediatrics. 2014 Jul;134(1):e120-7
references.pmid: 24958578
references.citation: Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2015 Oct;54(11):1107-9
references.pmid: 25385931