Patients' Perceptions of a Web Portal Offering Clinic Messaging and Personal Health Information

Background As a majority of U.S. adults now have access to the Internet, patient demand for online access to their physicians has steadily increased. While electronic communication may improve the patient-physician interaction, adoption has been slow due to issues regarding security, physician workload, and appropriate use by patients. To improve care and facilitate patient-clinic electronic communication, Partners HealthCare developed Patient Gateway (PG), a secure Web portal which offers patients access to their medication and allergy list and messaging services such as prescription requests, appointment requests, and referral requests. This study evaluated patient perceptions regarding the value and impact of the portal.