Overview
The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to assess the extent to which different modes of contacting parents who have not yet enabled to access to their children's medical records will result in greater proxy access. The main questions the study aims to answer are:
- will outreach via text or patient portal message result in more parents having access than usual care (which is in-office suggestions to get access).
- which mode - text or portal - will get more parents access. Participants will get a text message, or a portal message through their own patient portal, or no message. The investigators will check access to see which group has increased more during the study period.
Description
This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and impact of contacting parents/guardians of children seen in pediatric primary care practices to establish their proxy access to the EHR patient portal, called "MyChart." The primary objective of the study is to determine if directly messaging a guardian results in activation of proxy access to a child's MyChart at a higher rate compared with no specific messaging (usual care).
A secondary objective of the study is to compare messaging strategies, with one arm being a message to the guardian's patient portal, and the other text messaging.
Another secondary objective of the study is to ascertain whether sending information about activation to a guardian via text or email (as preferred) will result in self-activating their own Electronic Health Record (EHR) patient portal access.
At the conclusion of the study, the investigators will determine best-method for activation and utilize this method to invite guardians initially randomized to the usual-care arm of the study.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria:
- Guardian of a child aged ≤12 years seen in one of the two identified health centers within the last 3 years with guardian status and contact information documented in the child's EHR
Exclusion Criteria:
- Preferred method of contact for guardians with no MyChart is telephone or physical letter to home
- Guardians with EHR proxy access already activated for all children in their care.