A national analysis of electronic health record data showed that patient portal messaging has surged in recent years, signaling a significant change in the way physicians deliver care.The number of patient-authored portal messages rose from 0.99 per patient per year in 2020 to 2.5 in 2025, a more than 150% increase.Health systems should allocate time for inbox management within clinician schedules, editorialists suggested.
Patient portal messaging has surged in recent years, signaling a significant change in the way physicians deliver care, a cross-sectional analysis of electronic health record data showed.
In an analysis of national data from Epic Cosmos, the number of patient-authored portal messages rose from 0.99 per patient per year in 2020 to 2.5 in 2025, reported Michal Mankowski, PhD, of New York University Grossman School of Medicine, and colleagues in JAMA.
"Messages increased more than 150% during the last 6 years, and that has huge implications for healthcare," Mankowski told MedPage Today.
He said his team took up the project because they were hearing from clinical colleagues that message volume was increasing, a sentiment that aligns with data from single centers or single healthcare systems. Mankowski said theirs is the first to assess changes in portal message volume on a national level.
