WEDNESDAY, June 24, 2026 (NewsDay News) — Online patient portal messaging is set to more than double between 2020 and 2025, according to a research letter published online June 22.Journal of the American Medical Association.
Jane J. Long, MD, of New York University (NYU) in New York City, and colleagues analyzed national trends in patient portal messaging, phone and telephone appointments, and office visits, as well as differences in messaging by patients’ sociodemographic characteristics. The analysis includes electronic health record data from 140 million Epic Cosmos patient records (2,067 hospitals and 47,100 clinics).
The researchers found that from 2020 to 2025, portal posts written by patients increased from 0.99 to 2.50 per patient per year (153 percent). Meanwhile, telephone appointments decreased from 2.33 to 2.20 (−6 percent) and office visits increased from 2.37 to 2.77 per patient per year (17 percent). Clinical and staff author posts increased from 4.59 to 5.70 per patient per year (24 percent), peaking during the COVID-19 pandemic (6.86 per patient per year in 2021). Telemedicine visits increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching just 0.19 visits per active patient per year by 2025. Based on the quarterly data, the increase in patient messages was not associated with a decrease in office visits, but rather with a change in telephone appointments.
“Modern healthcare delivery means that healthcare providers must balance their digital workload on top of their traditional clinical workload,” said co-author Dorrie L. “Clinical staff should be trained to master healthcare messaging tools; use AI-supported applications, including chatbots that can frame content to reduce complexity; and make effective use of clinical time for online billing and online consultation.”
One author has disclosed financial ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.
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