Adult patient access to electronic health records.

BACKGROUND: To support patient-centred care, healthcare organisations increasingly offer patients access to data stored in the institutional electronic health record (EHR).
OBJECTIVES: PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: 1. To assess the effects of providing adult patients with access to electronic health records (EHRs) alone or with additional functionalities on a range of patient, patient-provider, and health resource consumption outcomes, including patient knowledge and understanding, patient empowerment, patient adherence, patient satisfaction with care, adverse events, health-related quality of life, health-related outcomes, psychosocial health outcomes, health resource consumption, and patient-provider communication.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: 1. To assess whether effects of providing adult patients with EHR access alone versus EHR access with additional functionalities differ among patient groups according to age, educational level, or different status of disease (chronic or acute)…
MAIN RESULTS: […] Overall, results suggest that the effects of EHR access alone and with additional functionalities are mostly uncertain when compared with usual care…
AUTHORS’ CONCLUSIONS: The effects of EHR access with additional functionalities in comparison with usual care for the most part are uncertain. Only adherence to the process of monitoring risk factors and providing preventive services as well as a composite score of risk factors for diabetes mellitus may improve slightly with EHR access with additional functionalities…more