As the OpenNotes movement continues to grow, a broad variety of journalists, patients and health care professionals are taking note. Even better, they’re sharing the facts, data, opinions and experiences of those sharing medical notes. See what the buzz is all about.
by Michael Schroeder Moving hospitals out of paper records and into seamless digital connectivity has been tougher than anyone but hard-core skeptics thought seven years ago, when the federal government began pouring billions of dollars into a push to make electronic medical records the universal standard. Computerization of health care data would quickly get patients’ health information where it needs to go, improving care…
Transparency, until recently, was rarely associated with health care. Not anymore. For better and sometimes worse, there is a revolutionary movement toward transparency in all facets of health care: transparency of costs, outcomes, quality, service, and reputation. Full transparency has now come to medical records in the form of OpenNotes. This is a patient-centered initiative…
Authors of a landmark report [download the report here!] find that little progress has been made in reducing diagnostic errors in the 15 years since the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report To Err is Human: Building A Safer Health System revealed dramatic lapses in patient safety. Consequently, authors conclude in the new report released today…
The OpenNotes initiative now reaches more than 5 million patients nationwide, according to new data and an infographic released just before the long Labor Day weekend. That covers participants in all Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals nationwide, as well as private organizations in 20 states. OpenNotes started as a pilot in 2010 to give patients…
The Open Notes initiative which allows patients to access their doctors’ notes in the EHR has the potential to increase safety and care quality. According to a recent study conducted by researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), access to the Open Notes program helps patients engage and increases their safety. “What we heard…
Approximately five years ago, clinicians at Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center started OpenNotes, an initiative that provides patients access to clinicians’ notes in an effort to accelerate transparency, as well as improve patient safety. The researchers recently released key findings from the pilot program, which largely demonstrated the benefits of giving patients access to…
Virtually all patients have the legal right to read a doctor’s notes after an appointment, yet few do so. Advocates argue that if patients reviewed such notes, they would be better informed and more involved in their health care. But some doctors worry that the practice would disrupt their workflow and potentially scare patients. Now,…
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston now has five years of data on what happens when patients have access to their doctor’s notes. And from that data, it appears that not only is the arrangement beneficial to patients, but also to doctors — and to the accuracy and quality of the notes. Researchers at the hospital,…
