Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Surprisingly, Portal Messaging Doesn’t Reduce In-Person Visits

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 …

Leveraging Physician-Patient Relationships to Increase Patient Portal Access During an Urgent Care Visit

Urgent Message: Urgent care physicians can leverage the physician-patient relationship established during a visit to improve patient portal enrollment and use in a healthcare system. Sandy Wang, MD, MPH; Carolyn Stern, MD; Kevin Fiscella, MD, MPH; Amaya Sanders, BS; Erik Herbert, BS; Rosie Booker, BS; Tyra Barton, LPN; Mechelle Sanders, PhD Key Words: Electronic Health Records, Patient Portals, Urgent Care, Quality Improvement Abstract Background: Patient portals for accessing electronic health records are useful for easy …

Patient Portals Part II: ‘Who’s That Practice Behind the Curtain?’

Lee A. Resnick, MD, FAAFP I proposed a systematic approach intended to in my last column, I discussed the decision- making process around patient portals and mitigate risk, ensure security, and manage access. A portal, by definition, is an‘entrance‘— a virtual access point to a practice, its staff and patient medical records. The most common access point is a practice’s website and well-designed one can enhance access, improve efficiency, and help sell your practice to …

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