ArticleApplied clinical informatics2015
Growth of Secure Messaging Through a Patient Portal as a Form of Outpatient Interaction across Clinical Specialties.
Article in Applied clinical informatics, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 111 citations in OpenAlex.
- Electronic Medical Record-Based Electronic Messaging Among Patients with Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review.Applied clinical informatics · 2023Pooled it
- How technology impacts communication between cancer patients and their health care providers: A systematic literature review.International journal of medical informatics · 2021Pooled it
- Team-based digital communication reduced patient-initiated phone calls to the hospital and improved patient satisfaction after orthopedic surgery: a randomized controlled trial in 70 patients.Acta orthopaedica · 2024Trial
- Parents' Use of Technologies for Health Management: A Health Literacy Perspective.Academic pediatricsTrial
- The Role of Measurement in Identifying High-Intensity Secure Message Senders Among Older Adults: Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Observational
- Clinical Digital Health Engagement and Psychological Distress Among Adults.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- A scoping review of studies on secure messaging through patient portals: persistent challenges and potential solutions.npj health systems · 2026Article
- Portal message utilization in orthopedic spine surgery: patterns, predictors, and financial implications.North American Spine Society journal · 2026Article
- Asynchronous Telehealth for Dysphagia Management: Evidence, Possibilities, and Practical Examples.Perspectives of the ASHA special interest groups · 2025Article
- Electronic Health Record Burnout in Surgery and Strategies to Improve Burnout: A Narrative Review.Cureus · 2025Review
- Unsupervised Large Language Models to Identify Topics in Cancer Center Patient Portal Messages.JCO clinical cancer informatics · 2025Article
- Measurement, drivers, and outcomes of patient-initiated secure messaging use and intensity: a scoping review.JAMIA open · 2025Review
- Patient-Health Care Professional Communication via a Secure Web-Based Portal in Severe Mental Health Conditions: Qualitative Analysis of Secure Messages.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Patient Perspectives on Communication Pathways After Orthopedic Surgery and Discharge and Evaluation of Team-Based Digital Communication: Qualitative Exploratory Study.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Health Care Professionals' Perspectives Before and After Use of eDialogue for Team-Based Digital Communication Across Settings: Qualitative Study.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Physician Burnout: Evidence-Based Roadmaps to Prioritizing and Supporting Personal Wellbeing.Journal of healthcare leadership · 2024Review
- Health Care Professionals' Experiences in Telerehabilitation: Qualitative Content Analysis.JMIR human factors · 2023Article
- Evaluation of a Secure Messaging System in the Care of Children With Medical Complexity: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Efficacy and satisfaction of asynchronous TeleHealth care compared to in-person visits following colorectal surgical resection.Surgical endoscopy · 2022Observational
- Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivePatient portals are online applications that allow patients to interact with healthcare organizations. Portal adoption is increasing, and secure messaging between patients and healthcare providers is an emerging form of outpatient interaction. Research about portals and messaging has focused on medical specialties. We characterized adoption of secure messaging and the contribution of messaging to outpatient interactions across diverse clinical specialties after broad portal deployment.
methodsThis retrospective cohort study at Vanderbilt University Medical Center examined use of patient-initiated secure messages and clinic visits in the three years following full deployment of a patient portal across adult and pediatric specialties. We measured the proportion of outpatient interactions (i.e., messages plus clinic visits) conducted through secure messaging by specialty over time. Generalized estimating equations measured the likelihood of message-based versus clinic outpatient interaction across clinical specialties.
resultsOver the study period, 2,422,114 clinic visits occurred, and 82,159 unique portal users initiated 948,428 messages to 1,924 recipients. Medicine participated in the most message exchanges (742,454 messages; 78.3% of all messages sent), followed by surgery (84,001; 8.9%) and obstetrics/gynecology (53,424; 5.6%). The proportion of outpatient interaction through messaging increased from 12.9% in 2008 to 33.0% in 2009 and 39.8% in 2010 (p<0.001). Medicine had the highest proportion of outpatient interaction conducted through messaging in 2008 (23.3% of outpatient interactions in medicine). By 2010, this proportion was highest for obstetrics/gynecology (83.4%), dermatology (71.6%), and medicine (56.7%). Growth in likelihood of message-based interaction was greater for anesthesiology, dermatology, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, and psychiatry than for medicine (p<0.001).
conclusionsThis study demonstrates rapid adoption of secure messaging across diverse clinical specialties, with messaging interactions exceeding face-to-face clinic visits for some specialties. As patient portal and secure messaging adoption increase beyond medicine and primary care, research is needed to understand the implications for provider workload and patient care.
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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.