• Marianne Turley, Terhilda Garrido, Alex Lowenthal, and Yi Yvonne Zhou.
• Health Information Technology Transformation and Analytics, Kaiser Permanente, Portland, OR, USA. marianne.c.turley@kp.org
• Am J Manag Care. 2012 Jul 1; 18 (7): e248-53.

ObjectivesTo examine the association between patient loyalty, as measured by member retention in the health plan, and access to My Health Manager (MHM), Kaiser Permanente's PHR, which is linked to its electronic health record, KP HealthConnect.DesignWe conducted a retrospective cohort observational quality improvement project from the third quarter of 2005 to the fourth quarter of 2008 for approximately 394,000 Kaiser Permanente Northwest members.MethodsTo control for self-selection bias, we used propensity scores to perform exact 1-to-1 matching without replacement between MHM users and nonusers. We estimated retention rates of the matched data and assessed the association between MHM use and retention versus voluntary termination. We also estimated odds ratios of significant variables impacting member retention.ResultsThe probability of remaining a member or being involuntarily terminated versus voluntary termination was 96.7% for users (95% confidence interval [CI], 96.6%-96.7%) and 92.2% for nonusers (95% CI, 92.1%-92.4%; P <.001). In the logistic model, MHM use was a significant predictor; only tenure and illness burden were stronger predictors. Users were 2.578 (95% CI, 2.487%-2.671%) times more likely to choose to remain members than were nonusers. The impact was more substantial among newer members.ConclusionsMHM use was significantly associated with voluntary membership retention. An indicator of patient loyalty, retention is critical to healthcare organizations.

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