Do patient portals ramp up cost of healthcare?

Patients who had access to their online records and who may have taken advantage of other features on a patient portal used the healthcare system more than those who didn't participate in the portal, according to a study by researchers at Kaiser Permanente. While this could drive up costs in the short term, more research will have to be done to determine whether or not portal users will see long-term health benefits from increased use of the system, said Ted Palen, MD, of the Institute for Health Research at Kaiser Permanente and the study's lead author.