#4-68E. Cracking the Code on Trial Recruitment: Email vs. Patient Portals (JAMA Netw Open, 2026)

Are you consistently struggling to recruit an adequate number of patients for your clinical trials in the rapidly evolving digital age? Today, we dive into a pivotal randomized clinical trial involving 15,376 potential research participants that systematically compared the effectiveness of email versus electronic health record patient portals, alongside altruistic versus individualistic message framing, for trial recruitment. The most critical takeaway from this research is that direct email communication significantly increases participant engagement rates compared to patient portal messages, offering a highly effective strategy for investigators. However, when critically appraising this evidence, it is crucial to recognize that the study was conducted within a single academic health system involving individuals who already possess digital access and adequate health literacy, which notably limits the generalizability of these findings to more digitally marginalized or underserved populations. For practicing physicians and clinician-researchers, this paper is exceptionally valuable because it provides actionable, evidence-based guidance to streamline the notoriously resource-intensive process of patient recruitment, ultimately empowering you to conduct more robust, efficiently powered clinical studies in your daily academic practice.

Citation: Gouda P, et al. Messaging Modality and Content for Recruitment of Research Participants A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Network Open. 2026. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.14046

Disclaimer: This audio summary is based on personal interpretation and does not guarantee the exact content of the original paper. Please refer to the original article for details.