Usability Testing of Healthcare Portals for Individuals with Mental and Physical Disabilities: Assessing Accessibility and User Experience (UX)

As healthcare continues to become more digital, patient portals have become essential tools for patients in their healthcare experience, including but not limited to accessing electronic healthcare records (EHR), scheduling appointments, and messaging healthcare providers. Despite widespread use of these tools, challenges with accessibility continue to exist, disproportionately impacting individuals with cognitive and physical disabilities. This study investigates the usability of healthcare portals for this population with usability mixed-methods tests with individuals experiencing cognitive or physical disabilities to assess how well their needs are met with online patient portals. Ten participants completed nine tasks representative of routine healthcare interactions. Quantitative results indicated that participants with physical impairments took three times longer to complete tasks such as scheduling appointments and locating lab results. Qualitative data revealed shared frustrations across all participants, with many expressing confusion over inconsistent terminology. Emotional hesitation was common, driven by fear of making an irreversible mistake. The findings suggest that task-specific improvements such as simplified navigation and real-time feedback cues are beneficial to ensuring equitable digital health access for users.