A pandemic-era rule change by the Department of Health and Human Services has given patients the right to access medical test results online at the same time as their doctors.
But health policy experts say electronic records systems are also causing problems for patients with intellectual disabilities, dementia and language challenges.
The advantages of providing the data directly to patients include increased records transparency and the automation of tasks that would otherwise require human staff, said Akanksha Karwar, chief operating officer at Aidin, a New York-based health care technology company. A survey of 8,139 patients at four U.S. academic medical centers, published March 20 in JAMA Network Open, found that 96% preferred receiving immediately released test results online even if their practitioner had not yet reviewed them.
Dr. Escude, a family physician, has spearheaded an initiative in Missouri to automatically share the health risks of intellectually disabled patients with telehealth providers. He said online patient portals are challenging for people suffering from memory loss, dementia and disabilities like autism.
According to officials, the number of medical practices offering online patient records increased steadily over the past decade, setting the stage for HHS to make them mandatory during the pandemic.
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