Real-Time Electronic Patient Portal Use Among Emergency Department Patients.

Importance: Patients with inequitable access to patient portals frequently present to emergency departments (EDs) for care. Little is known about portal use patterns among ED patients. Objectives: To describe real-time patient portal usage trends among ED patients and compare demographic and clinical characteristics between portal users and nonusers. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this cross-sectional study of 12 teaching and 24 academic-affiliated EDs from 8 health systems in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, patient portal access and usage data were evaluated for all ED patients 18 years or older between April 5, 2021, and April 4, 2022. Exposure: Use of the patient portal during ED visit. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcomes were the weekly proportions of ED patients who logged into the portal, viewed test results, and viewed clinical notes in real time. Pooled random-effects models were used to evaluate temporal trends and demographic and clinical characteristics associated with real-time portal use. Results: The study included 1 280 924 unique patient encounters (53.5% female; 0.6% American Indian or Alaska Native, 3.7% Asian, 18.0% Black, 10.7% Hispanic, 0.4% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 66.5% White, 10.0% other race, and 4.0% with missing race or ethnicity; 91.2% English-speaking patients; mean [SD] age, 51.9 [19.2] years). During the study, 17.4% of patients logged into the portal while in the ED, whereas 14.1% viewed test results and 2.5% viewed clinical notes. The odds of accessing the portal (odds ratio [OR], 1.36; 95% CI, 1.19-1.56), viewing test results (OR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.30-2.04), and viewing clinical notes (OR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.19-2.15) were higher at the end of the study vs the beginning. Patients with active portal accounts at ED arrival had a higher odds of logging into the portal (OR, 17.73; 95% CI, 9.37-33.56), viewing test results (OR, 18.50; 95% CI, 9.62-35.57), and viewing clinical notes (OR, 18.40; 95% CI, 10.31-32.86). Patients who were male, Black, or without commercial insurance had lower odds of logging into the portal, viewing results, and viewing clinical notes. Conclusions and Relevance: These findings suggest that real-time patient portal use during ED encounters has increased over time, but disparities exist in portal access that mirror trends in portal usage more generally. Given emergency medicine's role in caring for medically underserved patients, there are opportunities for EDs to enroll and train patients in using patient portals to promote engagement during and after their visits.

Design and Pilot Study of a High-Fidelity Medical Simulation of a Hospital-Wide Cybersecurity Attack.

Background: Cybersecurity incidents affecting hospitals have grown in prevalence and consequence over the last two decades, increasing the importance of cybersecurity preparedness and response training to minimize clinical disruptions. This work describes the development, execution, and post-exercise assessment of a novel simulation scenario consisting of four interlocking intensive care unit (ICU) patient scenarios. This simulation was designed to demonstrate the management of acute pathologies without access to conventional treatment methods during a cybersecurity incident in order to raise clinician awareness of the increasing incidence and patient safety implications of such events. Methods: The simulation was developed by a multidisciplinary team of physicians, simulation experts, and medical education experts at UCSD School of Medicine. The simulation involves the treatment of four patients, respectively experiencing postoperative hemorrhage, end stage renal disease, diabetic ketoacidosis, and hypoxic respiratory failure, all without access to networked medical resources. The simulation was first executed as part of the proceedings of CyberMed Summit, a healthcare cybersecurity conference in La Jolla, California, on November 19th, 2022. Following the simulation, a debrief session was held with the learner in front of conference attendees, with additional questioning and discussion prompted by attendee input. Results: Though limited to a single subject by the pilot-study nature of this research, the physician learner successfully identified the acute etiologies and managed the patients' acute decompensations while lacking access to the hospital's electronic medical records (EMRs), laboratory results, imaging, and communication systems. Review of footage of the event and post-experience interviews yielded numerous insights on the specific physician-focused challenges and possible solutions to a hospital-infrastructure-crippling cyber attack. Conclusion: Healthcare cybersecurity incidents are known to result in significant disruption of clinical activities and can be viewed through a patient-safety oriented perspective. Simulation training may be a particularly effective method for raising clinician awareness of and preparedness for these events, though further research is required.

Ransomware Cyberattack Associated With Cardiac Arrest Incidence and Outcomes at Untargeted, Adjacent Hospitals.

OBJECTIVES: Healthcare ransomware cyberattacks have been associated with major regional hospital disruptions, but data reporting patient-oriented outcomes in critical conditions such as cardiac arrest (CA) are limited. This study examined the CA incidence and outcomes of untargeted hospitals adjacent to a ransomware-infected healthcare delivery organization (HDO). DESIGN SETTING AND PATIENTS: This cohort study compared the CA incidence and outcomes of two untargeted academic hospitals adjacent to an HDO under a ransomware cyberattack during the pre-attack (April 3-30, 2021), attack (May 1-28, 2021), and post-attack (May 29, 2021-June 25, 2021) phases. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Emergency department and hospital mean daily census, number of CAs, mean daily CA incidence per 1,000 admissions, return of spontaneous circulation, survival to discharge, and survival with favorable neurologic outcome were measured. The study evaluated 78 total CAs: 44 out-of-hospital CAs (OHCAs) and 34 in-hospital CAs. The number of total CAs increased from the pre-attack to attack phase (21 vs. 38; p = 0.03), followed by a decrease in the post-attack phase (38 vs. 19; p = 0.01). The number of total CAs exceeded the cyberattack month forecast (May 2021: 41 observed vs. 27 forecasted cases; 95% CI, 17.0-37.4). OHCA cases also exceeded the forecast (May 2021: 24 observed vs. 12 forecasted cases; 95% CI, 6.0-18.8). Survival with favorable neurologic outcome rates for all CAs decreased, driven by increases in OHCA mortality: survival with favorable neurologic rates for OHCAs decreased from the pre-attack phase to attack phase (40.0% vs. 4.5%; p = 0.02) followed by an increase in the post-attack phase (4.5% vs. 41.2%; p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Untargeted hospitals adjacent to ransomware-infected HDOs may see worse outcomes for patients suffering from OHCA. These findings highlight the critical need for cybersecurity disaster planning and resiliency.