Patients want test results via password-protected websites

Most patients prefer receiving the results of sensitive medical tests - such as genetic tests - through password-protected websites or portals rather than by email or letters, a new survey has found.
The survey by Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) found that the largest portion of participants was comfortable receiving test results through password-protected websites or portals.
The survey of 409 participants did not include in-person communications, researchers said.
The research found that while password-protected web portals are highly preferred, participants don't mind a variety of non in-person communication methods including email, texts or voicemail for receiving results of common tests such as blood cholesterol levels.

However, that is not the case for two very sensitive tests - non-HIV sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and genetic test results.
In those cases, receiving the results via a password-protected patient portal/website was highly preferred.

"Communication with patients may need to be on a case-by-case basis - every individual may have a personal preference, and there may be a way to indicate those preferences in the patient's record," said the study's lead researcher, Jeannine LaRocque, assistant professor of human science in the School of Nursing & Health Studies at GUMC.
"The goal of this study was to try to better understand these preferences, so we can improve doctor-patient communication," said LaRocque.

The survey tested the desirability of seven different methods of non-in-person communication in receiving three different kinds of tests: common tests such as blood cholesterol and colonoscopy results; non-HIV STIs; and genetic testing (predisposition to a disorder, carrier of an inherited gene linked to a disease and a carrier of a genetic disorder).
The seven methods of communications surveyed were a password-protected patient portal website, phone voicemail, personal email, letter, home voicemail, fax and mobile phone text.
Half or more preferred receiving cholesterol or colonoscopy results in four methods: password protected patient portal websites, personal voicemail, personal email or letter. The majority did not want to receive a home voicemail, mobile text message or a fax.

For receiving results of STIs, only one method was preferred by the majority (51 per cent) of participants - password-protected websites. No single method was preferred for genetic test results; the closest, at 46 per cent, was also password-protected websites.
"With these highly sensitive medical results such as genetic test results, patients may not trust the privacy of methods such as personal voicemail or email, whereas password-protected websites provide an added level of security, which may be necessary as these tests become more prevalent in primary care practices," LaRocque said.
The study was published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.