Use of electronic patient-to-provider messaging through online patient portals can potentially increase provider-patient telephone calls, according to a study in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
Researchers monitored the rate of electronic messages and incoming telephone calls from February 2009 to June 2014 at four clinics. They conducted a retrospective time-series analysis.
All four clinics showed an increase in the rate of electronic patient-to-provider messaging via the patient portal. At two of the clinics, increased electronic messaging was associated with an increase in the rate of incoming telephone calls.
"While practices are increasingly making the decision of whether to implement a patient portal as part of their system of care, it is important that the motivation behind such a change not be based on the idea that it will alleviate clinical workload," the study authors wrote.