JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Patient portals are becoming increasingly popular worldwide even though their impact on individual health and health systems efficiency is still unclear.

Objective:

The aim of this systematic review is to summarize evidence on the impact of patient portals on health outcomes, healthcare efficiency, and to examine user characteristics, attitudes and satisfaction.

Methods:

We queried PubMed and Web of Science databases for articles published from 1 January 2013 to 31 October 2019. Eligible studies were primary studies reporting on the impact of patient portal adoption in relation to health outcomes, healthcare efficiency, and patient attitudes and satisfaction. We excluded studies where portals were not accessible from patients and pilot studies (with the exception of the articles evaluating patients’ attitudes).

Results:

3456 records were screened, and 47 articles were included. Among them, 11 studies addressed health outcomes reporting positive results, such as better monitoring of health status, improved patient-doctor interaction and quality of care. 15 studies evaluated the impact of digital patient portals on the utilization of health services with mixed results. Patient characteristics were described in 32 studies, reporting that utilization rate usually increases with age and female gender. Finally, 30 studies described attitudes, defining the main barriers (concerns about privacy and data security, lack of time) and facilitators (access to clinical data and laboratory results) to the use of a portal.

Conclusions:

Evidence regarding health outcomes is generally favourable and patient portals have the potential to enhance the doctor-patient relationship, improve health status awareness, and increase adherence to therapy. It is still unclear whether the use of patient portals improves health services utilization and efficiency.