The Internet is transforming the way people communicate with one another and share information. Industry studies show that the majority of American households have Internet access, and health care information is sought after by most online adults. Yet despite an explosion of health information available online, most consumers prefer and trust health information provided to them by their physician, and many are particularly interested in their own personal medical information being available to them online. Projects in patient computing address these issues and more, offering tools and evaluation to physicians and patients using a secure web portal with interfaces to an enterprise ambulatory electronic record system, the LMR (longitudinal medical record).

Patient Gateway is an application developed to provide patients with online access to their medical chart information, a health library, electronic form-based requests, and provider information. As of September, 2009, it is in use at 80 primary and specialty care practices affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Womens Hospital, and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Over 65,000 patients have requested access. Up to 70% of active patients in those practices have used the system, with over 12000 requests per month, 82000 sessions per month, and 120,000 requests from patients in the past 12 months.

The project has been evaluated through several research projects, including a Markle Foundation sponsored quality of care study and an AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) sponsored study on patient safety and care quality. Study methods include the use of pre- and post- surveys, and online questionnaires regarding diabetes, family history, preventive health care, and medications/allergies to determine how web-based tools might supplement traditional methods of delivering care.

In 2006 Patient Gateway began offering lab results for patients after a successful pilot, and in 2009 Patient Gateway started sharing radiology reports after piloting early in the year proved successful. Proxy accounts are offered for caregivers (family members, care assistants, legal guardians, etc.) of patients, and use of Patient Gateway in specialty care is growing quickly. Patient Gateway is being offered in Pediatric practices in 2010, with piloting in late 2009.