Patient Portal Access to Diagnostic Test Results

Dear Editor,

We read the publication on “Variation in results release and patient portal access to diagnostic test results at an academic medical center” with a great interest.[1] Krasowski et al. noted that “Patient accessing of diagnostic test results were generally higher for females, outpatients, and 20–45 years old. Approximately, 20% of outpatient results were viewed quickly by patients after release to the electronic health record (EHR).[1]” We would like to share ideas and experience from our country on the EHR. As a developing country in Indochina, the EHR is limitedly used in our country, and it is routine that the patients are now allowable to access the diagnostic test result. All patients’ data in our country are registered and accepted as the properties of the medical center/hospital. No direct access to the data by the patients is permitted. This is different from the new concept in many countries that allows the patient to directly access the data. The main reason that almost all hospital give for no allowance for direct access is the safety of database system. It is usually a question that the patients should have the right to access their own data or not in our country. In conclusion, use of patient portals might be limited by information technology resources and regulatory issues in several developing countries. There might be difference in cultural and legal views on the rights of patients to directly access their medical data, and the restrictions on access are common. These are interesting issues for future studies.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.