A survey sent to more than 43,000 patients living in several states around the country finds that 96% of patients who use patient web portals prefer immediate online access to their clinical test results, notwithstanding the prospect of reviewing results before their physicians have a chance to review them.
Led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), the survey was reported March 20 in JAMA Network Open.
“Immediate patient access to test results has been the law of the land for less than two years, and this is the largest study to date of how it’s perceived by patient portal users. Our survey says misgivings are few and users overwhelmingly value it,” said a leader of the study, Bryan Steitz, PhD, instructor in Biomedical Informatics at VUMC.