Patient Portal to Support Treatment Adherence

Patient Portal to Support Treatment Adherence

The purpose of this study is to conduct a randomized control trial of a behavioral intervention delivered by nurses via an electronic medical record (EMR) patient web portal to determine if this is an efficacious method for supporting medication adherence.

300 adult HIV+ patients will be randomized to one of two arms. 150 will be assigned to receive secure messages focused on antiretroviral adherence from a nurse through the health plan EMR patient website. 150 will be assigned to an attention control comparison arm, and will receive electronic messages from a study staff member that provide information about the various features of the health plan patient website. Patients will be invited by mail to be telephone screened for enrollment in the study. Patients will be provided the opportunity to opt out of being contacted by the study. Eligible and interested patients will be mailed an access code and separately emailed a link to a secure study website where they will complete a web consent form and a baseline web survey before being randomized to an intervention arm. This trial will allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of using health information technology as an intervention delivery vehicle to improve patient disease management behaviors such as treatment adherence.

Inclusion Criteria:

• enrollment in GHC or KP health plans for at least 6 months
• expect to stay enrolled for 1 year in health plan
• HIV+
• currently prescribed antiretroviral medication
• regular access to a computer with internet capabilities and working email address and meet one of the following:
• gap in antiretroviral prescription refills based on 6 month refill records
• referral to study by provider team for adherence problems

Exclusion Criteria:

• dementia or psychosis diagnosis documented in medical record