In 2013, about three in 10 patients were offered online access to their medical record. About half of those patients offered access logged on at least once, according to a news brief from the ONC.
The patients who did access their records online did so for a variety of reasons. According to a survey of 384 patients who did log on to a patient portal, the most common uses of the portal include:
- Monitor health (checking test results or medications): 73 percent
- Share health information with a third party, such as another provider or a family member: 44 percent
- Download the information to a personal computer or mobile device: 39 percent
- Send the information to an app or another personal health record: 11 percent
- Find errors/request corrections to medical information: 10 percent
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