Abstract Body

Background: Tethered patient portals include information such as the diagnoses, lab results, and management. Expectations on their functionalities are high. Little known about the link between the functionalities and specific needs of patients or primary healthcare professionals (PHPs), and the hurdles they encounter in realizing these needs. We aimed to gain better understanding of the (im)possibilities of patient portals by using Nussbaum's Capability Approach (CA) as a framework (2001).

Method: Scoping review of reviews in PUBMED; key word “patient portal” in title or abstract; search period 2015-2020.

Results: 13 reviews were selected. RCT’s showed ambiguous results on clinical outcomes and patient empowerment. Surveys and qualitative studies suggested that the portals could contribute to e.g. patient empowerment and patient-provider relation. However, PHPs also experienced increased workload, and were concerned about the consequences of patients’ access to their medical record. Important barriers and enablers were digital skills, SES and health literacy. Based on these results a CA-framework is provided, suggesting that seven out of ten human capabilities are involved in using patient portals.

Conclusion: The review showed different functionalities of patient portals, mainly for patients and some for PHPs. Overall, the effects shown were inconclusive. The study reviews reveal a necessity (1) to do further research on the needs of patients and PHPs regarding patient portals, and (2) the specific barriers and facilitators for patients and PHPs. Focus groups are already planned. Based on this information the adaptation rate can be increased in a direction desired by patients and healthcare professionals.