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A large-scale analysis of electronic health record data from more than 2,000 hospitals and 47,000 clinics found that secure patient portal messaging has become a component of outpatient care rather than a replacement for office visits, as published in JAMA. Investigators analyzed communication trends among active patients from 2020–2025 using nearly 8 billion office visits, portal messages, telephone encounters, and telehealth visits. Portal messages coming in from patients rose from 0.99 to 2.50 messages per patient per year over the study period—a 153% increase. At the same time, office visits increased 17%, from 2.37 to 2.77 visits per patient annually, while telephone encounters declined by only 6%. In the first quarter of 2025, 30% of active patients had sent at least 1 portal message. Messaging was most common among adults aged 40–64 years (35.1%), and more women (33.0%) sent messages than men (26.1%). However, the authors caution that messaging alone may not adequately reach all patient populations, especially individuals living in the lowest social vulnerability areas.
More care overall: For urgent care practices, the findings suggest that digital messaging is expanding the amount of care delivered between visits rather than reducing in-person demand. “Urgent care organizations may need to account for growing message volume, staffing requirements, and workflow changes,” says Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, President of Urgent Care Consultants and Senior Editor of JUCM.
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