Community Health Worker Training Boosted Patient Portal Use Among People With HIV in Pilot Study

Patient portals allow people to view lab results, message their care teams, schedule appointments and manage health information online. Prior research has linked portal use with improved engagement in care and better health outcomes across a range of healthcare contexts, including among people with HIV. Yet access and use are uneven, with common barriers including lack of awareness, a need for more education, and mistrust or unfamiliarity with the technology.

The study used a pre-post, single-arm design. Each of the 55 enrolled participants received a one-time, personalized 30-minute training session with a community health worker covering MyChart functions, along with hands-on help setting up and using the portal. Before the training, participants reported sociodemographic information, their current MyChart use, the barriers they faced and the functions that interested them most.

To measure change, the researchers retrieved MyChart utilization data for the six months before and the six months after the training. They used descriptive statistics to characterize the data and McNemar’s exact tests to determine whether differences between the pre-training and post-training intervals were statistically significant.

The participant group was predominantly Black or African American, at 94.5 percent, and most participants, 65.5 percent, had Medicaid or Medicare insurance. Before the intervention, the most frequently used MyChart functions were viewing lab results at 65.5 percent, viewing health history at 60.0 percent, scheduling appointments at 56.4 percent and sending messages at 54.5 percent.

The most commonly reported barriers were lack of time, cited by 21.8 percent of participants, and not understanding how to use the portal, reported by 20.0 percent.

After the training, the proportion of participants using read and view functions, such as reviewing test results and reading messages, rose significantly from 61.8 percent to 81.8 percent, with a p-value of 0.048. Use of write and update functions, such as responding to messages, paying bills and updating account information, also increased, from 56.4 percent to 72.7 percent, but this change was not statistically significant, with a p-value of 0.216.

The authors caution that the study was a small, single-arm pilot without a control group, so the findings indicate potential rather than proven effectiveness. Even so, the significant increase in read and view functions suggests that community health worker-led interventions could be a practical way to address barriers and increase portal use among people with HIV, a population in which engagement in care is especially consequential.

The increase in use of some MyChart functions after the training indicates the potential of community health worker-led interventions to address barriers and increase portal use among people with HIV.

Subject of Research: A community health worker-led pilot intervention to increase patient portal use among people with HIV

Article Title: A community health worker pilot intervention to increase patient portal use among people with HIV

Article References: Whitney, E., Devlin, S. A., Friedman, E. E., Mason, J. A., Patil Vilas, S., Kagarmanova, A., Clark, N., Laiteerapong, N., Pagkas-Bather, J., Brewer, R. A., Schneider, J., Grant, J. E., Pollack, H., Bischoff, D., & Ridgway, J. P. (2026). A community health worker pilot intervention to increase patient portal use among people with HIV. PLOS Digital Health, 5(10), e0001782. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0001782

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pdig.0001782

Keywords: patient portal, MyChart, people with HIV, community health workers, digital health, health disparities, pilot study, patient engagement, health literacy, HIV care, community, health