ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2020
Too Many Don'ts and Not Enough Do's? A Survey of Hospitals About Their Portal Instructions for Patients.
Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
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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
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- A scoping review of studies on secure messaging through patient portals: persistent challenges and potential solutions.npj health systems · 2026Article
- Taming the In-Basket-How Two Simple Tools Reduced Portal Message Volume in an Academic Internal Medicine Clinic.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Users' perspectives on a demonstration to increase shared access to older adults' patient portals.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- User preferences for an mHealth app to support HIV testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake among men who have sex with men in Malaysia.PLOS digital health · 2024Article
- Article
- Evaluation of Experiences and Attitudes of Patients Towards Patient Portal-Enabled Access to Their Health Information or Medical Records: A Qualitative Grounded Theory Study.Qualitative health research · 2023Article
- Undisclosed probing into decision-making capacity: a dilemma in secondary care.BMC medical ethics · 2021Article
- Evaluation of electronic health record-integrated digital health tools to engage hospitalized patients in discharge preparation.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2021Article
- Insecure messaging: how clinicians approach potentially problematic messages from patients.JAMIA open · 2020Article
- Digital Engagement: How Serious Are Hospitals?Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPatient portals present the opportunity to expand patients' access to their clinicians and health information. Yet patients and clinicians have expressed the need for more guidance on portal and secure messaging procedures to avoid misuse. Little information is currently available concerning whether and how expectations of portal and messaging usage are communicated to patients.
objectiveTo identify the information made available to patients about patient portal use, and to assess ease in accessing such information.
designA national survey of publicly available portal information from hospital websites. The study team followed up with phone calls to each hospital to request any additional patient-directed materials (e.g., pamphlets) not located in the web search.
participantsA random sample of 200 acute-care hospitals, 50 from each of four US Census regions, selected from the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Hospital Compare dataset. MAIN MEASURES: Availability of patient portals, secure messaging, and related functionality; the content and ease of access to patient-directed information about portals. KEY
resultsOf the hospitals sampled, 177 (89%) had a patient portal; 116 (66%) of these included secure messaging functionality. Most portals with secure messaging (N = 65, 58%) did not describe appropriate patient messaging conduct. Although many included disclaimers that the service is not for emergencies, 23 hospitals only included this within the fine prints of their "Terms and Conditions" section. Content analysis of additional patient-directed materials revealed a focus on logistical content, features of the portals, and parameters of use. Of the three categories, logistical content (e.g., creating an account) was the most thorough.
conclusionsAlthough most of the sampled hospitals had patient portals, many fail to educate patients fully and set expectations for secure messaging. To improve patient engagement and minimize harm, hospitals and clinicians need to provide more information and set clearer guidelines for patients.
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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.