When Patient Portals Break Bad News.

This article focuses on the challenges electronic patient portals pose in delivering bad news, particularly cancer diagnoses, within the Military Health System (MHS). While portals like MHS GENESIS enhance patient-provider communication and transparency by providing timely access to medical records, they can inadvertently cause distress when patients view complex pathology results before discussing them with a trained provider. The article highlights that most oncology patients prefer receiving bad news in person or by telephone, where empathetic communication protocols such as SPIKES can be employed. It suggests strategies for military healthcare providers to mitigate negative impacts, including warning patients about early portal access to sensitive results and potentially customizing portal settings to delay release of such information until after provider consultation.