Patient Portal Messaging in Clinical Care, Equity, and Clinician Workload: Scoping Review with ☸️SAIMSARA

Name: SAIMSARA Evidence Object digital::PATIENT_PORTAL_MESSAGING_SS
Creator: SAIMSARA
License: https://saimsara.com/license/

SAIMSARA

doi:10.62487/saimsara35d5dc3f

SAIMSARA Journal

Machine-Readable Science • ISSN 3054-3991

Patient Portal Messaging in Clinical Care, Equity, and Clinician Workload: Scoping Review with ☸️SAIMSARA

Digital Health & Biotech

Issue 3, Volume 1, 2026

Chat with this issue

DOI: 10.62487/saimsara35d5dc3f

Editorial note

• Last update: 2026-06-10 06:42:25

What is this paper about

Patient portal messaging can improve screening, chronic disease management, follow-up, and research participation—but its rapid growth is also deepening digital inequities and increasing clinician workload. This review maps the evidence across clinical outcomes, disparities, burnout, recruitment, and AI-assisted messaging, revealing what works, where risks remain, and how health systems can scale portal communication safely and sustainably.

Human-verified editorial review Verified by World ID proof-of-human. This editorial layer was submitted from a SAIMSARA account verified as a unique human.

Generated with SAIMSARA v5.0

Abstract: To conduct a scoping review synthesizing the evidence on patient portal messaging across five core themes: clinical and behavioral outcomes, sociodemographic disparities in utilization, clinician workload and burnout, applications of artificial intelligence, and the role of messaging in research recruitment and public health surveillance. The review uses 211 references and builds its evidence map from 479 original studies with 22677450 total participants/sample observations (topic-deduplicated ΣN). This scoping review highlights a defining paradox of patient portal messaging: it is a demonstrably effective channel for advancing preventive care, chronic disease management, and patient engagement, yet its benefits are unevenly distributed and its growth is straining clinician capacity. The evidence consistently indicates clinical value—such as improved colorectal cancer screening (38% vs 32%) and re-engagement with diagnostic testing (64% vs 27%)—alongside persistent disparities affecting Black, Hispanic, Medicaid-insured, and non-English-speaking patients and disproportionate workload burdens on female clinicians. Emerging AI-assisted triage and drafting tools show promise but carry safety risks when erroneous drafts go uncorrected. Equity-focused implementation strategies, such as automatic enrollment, were associated with mitigated activation disparities. Future research should prioritize randomized evaluations of AI safety, workflow redesign, and equity-centered interventions to ensure that portal messaging scales sustainably without widening the digital divide.
.

Keywords: patient portal messaging; secure messaging; health disparities; patient engagement; AI-generated drafts; clinical workload; preventive care reminders; oncology communication; portal utilization; digital health equity

Review Stats

Final search date and database lock: 2026-05-31 15:52:31 CEST
Plan: Pro (expanded craft tokens; source: Semantic Scholar)
Source: Semantic Scholar
Total Abstracts/Papers: 144146
Downloaded Abstracts/Papers: 1000
Included original and non-original Abstracts/Papers (all): 697
Included original Abstracts/Papers (Vote counting by direction of effect): 479
Reference Index (links used in paper): 211
Total participants/sample observations (topic deduplicated ΣN): 22677450

Get access to the full paper

Unlock the full evidence map

Full paper access includes the complete human-readable review, figures, reference index, PDF export, and machine-readable Evidence JSON download.
Evidence JSON can also be purchased separately if you only need the LLM-ready object for agent, AI, or RAG workflows.
Institutional or library access? Sign in with your institution email to open all available SAIMSARA papers under your institution access arrangement.
Need a SAIMSARA review on your own topic? ☸️Request.

Reference Index (211)

[1] Opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence in patient portal messaging in primary care — https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-025-01586-2
[2] Patient portal messaging to address delayed follow-up for uncontrolled diabetes: a pragmatic, randomised clinical trial — https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2024-018249
[3] Disparities in Patient Portal Messaging Among Oncology Patients Enrolled in the Patient Portal. — https://doi.org/10.1200/cci-24-00234
[4] Association of Patient Portal Messaging with Survival Among Radiation Oncology Patients. — https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2024.05.003
[5] Text vs Patient Portal Messaging to Improve Influenza Vaccination Coverage: A Health System-Wide Randomized Clinical Trial. — https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.0001
[6] Describing current use, barriers, and facilitators of patient portal messaging for research recruitment: Perspectives from study teams and patients at one institution — https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2023.522
[7] Guardrails for GenAI drafted replies in patient portal messaging — https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-026-02621-6
[8] High Utilizers of MyChart Electronic Patient Portal Messaging in A Head and Neck Surgery Clinic. — https://doi.org/10.1002/lary.70465

Unlock the full paper to view the complete Reference Index.