Patient-Friendly Test Results and Patient-Initiated Messaging Among Adult Outpatients

Among adult patients, is the release of test results via patient portal in a patient-friendly educational format associated with a decrease in patient-initiated messaging?In this quality improvement study including 205 139 patients who reviewed 829 902 test results during 2024, patient-initiated messaging decreased by 15 messages per week after the introduction of a patient-friendly educational format for test results. A statistically significant decrease of 0.8% in messages sent after reviewing results for tests ordered in primary care was observed.These findings suggest that generalized patient-friendly educational materials may support patients reviewing their results but may not promote significant changes in patient messaging behavior.

Corresponding Author: Bryan D. Steitz, PhD, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2525 West End Ave, Ste 1475, Nashville, TN 37203 (bryan.d.steitz@vumc.org).

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