Abstract
Purpose: Internet-based patient portals are increasingly being implemented throughout health care organizations to enhance health and optimize communication between patients and health professionals. The decision to adopt a patient portal requires careful examination of the advantages and disadvantages of implementation. This study aims to investigate 1 proposed advantage of implementation: Alleviating some of the clinical workload faced by employees. Methods: A retrospective time-series analysis of the correlation between the rate of electronic patient- to-provider messages-a common attribute of Internet-based patient portals-and incoming telephone calls. The rate of electronic messages and incoming telephone calls were monitored from February 2009 to June 2014 at 4 economically diverse clinics (a federally qualified health center, a rural health clinic, a community-based clinic, and a university-based clinic) related to 1 university hospital. Results: All 4 clinics showed an increase in the rate of portal use as measured by electronic patientto- provider messaging during the study period. Electronic patient-to-provider messaging was significantly positively correlated with incoming telephone calls at 2 of the clinics (r = 0.546, P < .001 and r = 0.543, P < .001). The remaining clinics were not significantly correlated but demonstrated a weak positive correlation (r = 0.098, P = .560 and r = 0.069, P = .671). Conclusions: Implementation and increased use of electronic patient-to-provider messaging was associated with increased use of telephone calls in 2 of the study clinics. While practices are increasingly making the decision of whether to implement a patient portal as part of their system of care, it is important that the motivation behind such a change not be based on the idea that it will alleviate clinical workload.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 613-619 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine |
Volume | 29 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1 2016 |
Keywords
- Communication
- Electronic Health Records
- Health Personnel
- Information Systems
- Internet
- Motivation
- Retrospective Studies
- Telephone
- Workload
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Family Practice