Introduction
Patient-facing online tools for managing preventive and chronic care can be a resource-effective
way to increase patient agency in health promotion. Recently, Kaiser Permanente Southern
California added the Online Personal Action Plan (oPAP) to the member web portal to
better enable members to access information about prevention, health promotion, and
care gaps. This study described Kaiser Permanente Southern California members who
use oPAP, as well as how members use oPAP to close five different care gaps: hemoglobin
A1c testing, pneumonia vaccination, and three cancer screenings.
Methods
Care gap closure rates between oPAP users and members not registered on the online
patient portal between December 2014 and March 2015 were compared. Data were analyzed
in 2015. A total of 838,638 cases (48.9% women; mean age, 49.5 years; 40.4% oPAP users)
were examined.
Results
Adjusting for demographics, BMI, smoking status, health and insurance status, and
number of open care gaps, oPAP access was associated with a somewhat greater likelihood
of care gap closure within 90 days for select care gap types, particularly hemoglobin
A1c testing and breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening among eligible members.
The effect of oPAP access on care gap closure differed by certain ethnic minority
groups.
Conclusions
Although healthcare organizations have developed approaches to managing and closing
preventive care gaps, these efforts are resource intensive. Users of oPAP are more
likely than non-registered members to close gaps, especially cancer screening tests.
The oPAP appears to be an effective tool at improving patient engagement in preventive
health care.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 26, 2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by American Journal of Preventive Medicine All rights reserved.
