Use of the Veterans Health Administration online patient portal among Veterans with spinal cord injuries and disorders

Context/Objective: Online patient portals like the Veteran Health Administration’s (VA) My HealtheVet (MHV) may be particularly useful for Veterans with spinal cord injuries/disorders (SCI/D), many of whom experience barriers to care. The objective of this analysis was to examine MHV use among Veterans with SCI/D. Design: Retrospective database analysis. Setting: VA SCI/D System of Care. Participants: Veterans with SCI/D who utilize VA care. Interventions: N/A Outcome Measures: MHV registration and use of key portal features among Veterans who newly registered for MHV. Veteran characteristics associated with registration and use of portal features using multiple logistic regression. Results: 14.6% of Veterans with SCI/D in our sample registered to use MHV. 48.7% used the medication refill feature, 28.7% used the appointment view feature, 25.0% sent or read at least one secure message and 10.8% used the Blue Button feature. Adjusted analyses indicate that having a C5-8 (OR: 1.36, CI95%: 1.06–1.76, P < 0.05) or T1-S5 (OR: 1.41, CI95%: 1.13–1.78, P < 0.01) (vs. C1–C4), having (vs. not having) neurogenic bladder (OR: 1.45, CI95%: 1.18–1.77, P < 0.01), being married (vs. not married) (OR: 2.00, CI95%: 1.67–2.39, P < 0.01), and increased healthcare utilization in the third (OR: 1.71, CI95%: 1.31–2.24, P < 0.01) and fourth (OR: 1.73, CI95%: 1.27–2.34, P < 0.01) quartiles (vs. first quartile) were associated with increased odds of MHV registration. We also identified factors associated with use of key MHV features. Conclusions: Our results suggest that MHV registration and use of key portal features was limited among Veterans with SCI/D. Effort to increase portal use in this population are warranted.