Patient access to medical records and healthcare outcomes: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

We conducted a systematic review to determine the effect of providing patients access to their medical records (electronic or paper-based) on healthcare quality, as defined by measures of safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency, and equity.

Methods

Articles indexed in PubMed from January 1970 to January 2012 were reviewed. Twenty-seven English-language controlled studies were included. Outcomes were categorized as measures of effectiveness (n=19), patient-centeredness (n=16), and efficiency (n=2); no study addressed safety, timeliness, or equity.

Results

Outcomes were equivocal with respect to several aspects of effectiveness and patient-centeredness. Efficiency outcomes in terms of frequency of in-person and telephone encounters

SUBMITTER: Davis Giardina T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4078277 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature