Primary care providers' opening of time-sensitive alerts sent to commercial electronic health record InBaskets.

Electronic health record alerts contribute to alert fatigue and increase provider workload. Some alerts are more time-sensitive than others and a delayed response can adversely impact patient safety. This study found that time-sensitive alerts were less likely to be opened by primary care providers within 24 hours if the provider's InBasket had a high number of notifications at the time of alert delivery or if the alert was sent on the weekend.