SynthesisJournal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA
Patient access to medical records and healthcare outcomes: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 81 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
81 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Engaging Patients with Heart Failure in Diet and Nutritional Health Behaviors Through mHealth Applications - A Restricted, Systematic Review.Current heart failure reports · 2026Pooled it
- Large language models for simplifying radiology reports: a systematic review and meta-analysis of patient, public, and clinician evaluations.The Lancet. Digital health · 2026Pooled it
- Patient and family engagement interventions in primary care patient safety: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Pooled it
- Adult patient access to electronic health records.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Impact of providing patients access to electronic health records on quality and safety of care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ quality & safety · 2020Pooled it
- Patient Portals Facilitating Engagement With Inpatient Electronic Medical Records: A Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2019Pooled it
- Methods to Evaluate the Effects of Internet-Based Digital Health Interventions for Citizens: Systematic Review of Reviews.Journal of medical Internet research · 2018Pooled it
- Inpatient Portals for Hospitalized Patients and Caregivers: A Systematic Review.Journal of hospital medicine · 2018Pooled it
- "Nothing About Me Without Me": An Interpretative Review of Patient Accessible Electronic Health Records.Journal of medical Internet research · 2015Pooled it
- Providing Mobile Patient Access to Their Electronic Secondary Care Patient Record in Adults With Cystic Fibrosis: Results of a Prospective, Parallel, Randomized Open-Pilot Quantitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Trial
- A protocol for a pragmatic randomized controlled trial using the Health Teams Advancing Patient Experience: Strengthening Quality (Health TAPESTRY) platform approach to promote person-focused primary healthcare for older adults.Implementation science : IS · 2016Trial
- A Dataset for Addressing Patient's Information Needs related to Clinical Course of Hospitalization.Scientific data · 2026Article
- Sociodemographic Factors Associated with the Utilization of Digital Health Technologies Among Informal Caregivers: A Nationwide Study in the USA, 2022.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Assessing the Effects of eHealth Literacy and the Area Deprivation Index on Barriers to Electronic Patient Portal Use for Orthopedic Surgery: Cross-Sectional Observational Study.JMIR perioperative medicine · 2026Observational
- An evaluation of DeepSeek and healthcare professionals' Q&A capabilities in improving patient-family satisfaction in the ICU.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- PICO-based assessment and categorization of evidence for digital health interventions: an inductive framework development.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Review
- Patient-Friendly Test Results and Patient-Initiated Messaging Among Adult Outpatients.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Cocreating the Visualization of Digital Mobility Outcomes: Delphi-Type Process With Patients.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Identifying Medication Review Topics to Be Documented in a Structured Form in Electronic Health Record Systems: Delphi Consensus Survey.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Patient Factors Associated With the Use of Online Portal Health Information in the Postpandemic Era: Cross-Sectional Analysis of a National Survey.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
21 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesWe conducted a systematic review to determine the effect of providing patients access to their medical records (electronic or paper-based) on healthcare quality, as defined by measures of safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency, and equity.
methodsArticles indexed in PubMed from January 1970 to January 2012 were reviewed. Twenty-seven English-language controlled studies were included. Outcomes were categorized as measures of effectiveness (n=19), patient-centeredness (n=16), and efficiency (n=2); no study addressed safety, timeliness, or equity.
resultsOutcomes were equivocal with respect to several aspects of effectiveness and patient-centeredness. Efficiency outcomes in terms of frequency of in-person and telephone encounters were mixed. Access to health records appeared to enhance patients' perceptions of control and reduced or had no effect on patient anxiety.
conclusionAlthough few positive findings generally favored patient access, the literature is unclear on whether providing patients access to their medical records improves quality.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.