Online Access trending to More Clinical Services

Online patient access to physicians and medical records is becoming an important component of health care reform.  A new study examined whether patients who had online access to their health records and secure physician communication used more or fewer in-person clinical services. “The member with online access actually used more of these in-person services.” Dr. Ted Palen studied more than 44,000 patients who used an online patient portal.  Researchers compared these patients to similar patients who did not use the online option.  Researchers assessed rates of office visits, telephone calls, after hour clinic and emergency department visits along with hospitalizations.  “It was associated with an increase in telephone calls into the health plan, more office visits and although the numbers were smaller the rates of after hour clinic visits and hospitalizations was associated with an increased rate.” The study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.