Chris,
When sending a result to the portal, just make sure you set that you will be notified if the item is not viewed. The time frame to be notified can be anywhere from one hour to one week. We set ours to one week, and if not read then my nurse will call.
You find this setting when sending an item to a patient. It is directly below the message box, and there is a sentence that says "If this item is not viewed in the portal, alert me in...." Click on arrow to set your time frame desired.
Also I have the "Enable message read notifications", a confirmation will be sent to your practice workspace when a patient views a message you have sent to their portal account.
This is found by clicking on portal, then portal profile, then click on "Enable message read notifications halfway down the page.
This is extremely helpful to do both to take care of your problem, I think.
