Background Primary care providers are regarded as trustworthy sources of information about COVID-19 vaccines. Although primary care practices often provide information about common medical and public health topics on their practice websites, little is known about whether they also provide information about COVID-19 vaccines on their practice websites. Objective This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and correlates of COVID-19 vaccine information on family medicine practices’ website home pages in the United States. Methods We used the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid National Provider Identifier records to create a sampling frame of all family medicine providers based in the United States, from which we constructed a nationally representative random sample of 964 family medicine providers. Between September 20 and October 8, 2021, we manually examined the practice websites of these providers and extracted data on the availability of COVID-19 vaccine information, and we implemented a 10% cross-review quality control measure to resolve discordances in data abstraction. We estimated the prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine information on practice websites and website home pages and used Poisson regression with robust error variances to estimate crude and adjusted prevalence ratios for correlates of COVID-19 vaccine information, including practice size, practice region, university affiliation, and presence of information about seasonal influenza vaccines. Additionally, we performed sensitivity analyses to account for multiple comparisons. Results Of the 964 included family medicine practices, most (n=509, 52.8%) had ≥10 distinct locations, were unaffiliated with a university (n=838, 87.2%), and mentioned seasonal influenza vaccines on their websites (n=540, 56.1%). In total, 550 (57.1%) practices mentioned COVID-19 vaccines on their practices’ website home page, specifically, and 726 (75.3%) mentioned COVID-19 vaccines anywhere on their practice website. As practice size increased, the likelihood of finding COVID-19 vaccine information on the home page increased (n=66, 27.7% among single-location practices, n=114, 52.5% among practices with 2-9 locations, n=66, 56.4% among practices with 10-19 locations, and n=304, 77.6% among practices with 20 or more locations, P<.001 for trend). Compared to clinics in the Northeast, those in the West and Midwest United States had a similar prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine information on website home pages, but clinics in the south had a lower prevalence (adjusted prevalence ratio 0.8, 95% CI 0.7 to 1.0; P=.02). Our results were largely unchanged in sensitivity analyses accounting for multiple comparisons. Conclusions Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, primary care practitioners who promote and provide vaccines should strongly consider utilizing their existing practice websites to share COVID-19 vaccine information. These existing platforms have the potential to serve as an extension of providers’ influence on established and prospective patients who search the internet for information about COVID-19 vaccines.
BACKGROUND Primary care providers are regarded as trustworthy sources of information about COVID-19 vaccines, but little is known about whether primary care practices provide information about COVID-19 vaccines on their practice websites. OBJECTIVE To identify the prevalence and correlates of COVID-19 vaccine information on family medicine practice website homepages in the United States. METHODS Between September 20 and October 8, 2021, we examined 964 U.S.-based family medicine practice websites and extracted data on the availability of COVID-19 vaccine information. We estimated prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine information on practice website homepages and used Poisson regression with robust error variances to estimate crude and adjusted prevalence ratios for correlates of COVID-19 vaccine information, including practice size, practice region, university affiliation, and presence of information about seasonal influenza vaccines. RESULTS Of 964 websites, 550 (57%) mentioned COVID-19 vaccines on their practice website homepage. As practice size increased, the likelihood of finding COVID-19 vaccine information on the homepage increased (28% among single-location practices compared to 78% among practices with 20 or more locations, p<0.01). Compared to clinics in the Northeast, clinics in the West and Mid-west had a similar prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine information on website homepages, but clinics in the South had a lower prevalence (adjusted prevalence ratio 0.8, 95% CI: 0.7 to 1.0, p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, primary care practitioners who promote and provide vaccines should strongly consider utilizing their existing practice websites to share COVID-19 vaccine information. These existing platforms can serve as an extension of providers’ influence on established and prospective patients who search online for information about COVID-19 vaccines.
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