Can You Upload Blood Work Results to Your Patient Portal?
Yes, you can upload and access your blood work results through your healthcare provider's patient portal, and doing so is encouraged as it improves patient engagement, medication adherence, and enables you to identify potential errors in your medical records. 1
What Patient Portals Allow You to Do
Patient portals provide secure, online access to your personal health information, specifically including: 1
- Laboratory results (blood work, urine tests)
- Medication lists
- Immunizations
- Allergies
- Discharge information
- Radiology and pathology results
Beyond just viewing results, portals enable: 1
- Patient-provider communication through secure messaging
- Appointment management
- Payment processing
- Prescription refill requests
Benefits of Accessing Your Blood Work Through Portals
Patient Safety and Error Detection: Patient portals facilitate your ability to discover errors in your electronic medical records, which is a significant patient safety benefit. 1 Multiple studies have documented that patients can identify inaccuracies when reviewing their own laboratory results. 1
Improved Health Outcomes: Portal use has been shown to improve: 1
- Medication adherence
- Patient-provider communication
- Patient safety
Reduced Healthcare Utilization: Portal access may reduce in-person visits, emergency department visits, and telephone conversations with providers. 1
Timing of Results Release
Most patients prefer rapid access to their laboratory results. Research shows that 76.9% of patients chose a 1-day delay for blood and urine results, while 94.8% chose a 7-day delay for radiology and pathology results. 2
Patients want quick access for several reasons: 2
- Transparency in health information
- Time to process potentially concerning results
- Preparation for medical consultations
- Ability to monitor and act on abnormal results
- Sharing results with other healthcare providers
Important Considerations and Caveats
Understanding Results: While patients strongly favor access to all types of test results, common concerns include: 3
- Difficulty interpreting the exact relevance of results
- Need for more timely notification from providers
- Anxiety about receiving incomprehensible information 2
Reference Information: Approximately 50% of patients who view results access linked reference information to help understand their results. 4 Portals should provide clear takeaway messages for each result and signal whether differences are meaningful. 5
Communication with Providers: Although concerns existed that patient messaging might overwhelm healthcare staff, these concerns have not materialized in practice. 1 However, structured messaging systems may help ensure patients communicate important and relevant information while prioritizing patient safety. 1
Potential Anxiety Considerations
Some patients may experience anxiety when viewing results without immediate physician interpretation, particularly for sensitive information. 1, 2 However, the benefits of transparency, error detection, and improved engagement generally outweigh these concerns. 1
Healthcare organizations can address this by flagging sensitive information and allowing patients to opt for in-person delivery of certain results. 1
Bottom Line
You should actively use your patient portal to access blood work results, as this improves your engagement in care, helps identify potential errors, and supports better health outcomes through improved medication adherence and communication with your healthcare team. 1