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.
For many of us, hospitals evoke a persistent buzz of low-key anxiety. The long hallways often smell faintly of antiseptic and worry. Is there a role that doctors could play to help patients and their families better understand their care and perhaps alleviate some of that worry? An interdisciplinary study by the University of Minnesota…
The healthcare industry has been focused on improving patient engagement across the medical care spectrum in efforts to boost health outcomes. Both Stage 2 and Stage 3 Meaningful Use requirements under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs have specific objectives centered on enhancing patient engagement. Healthcare providers have been aiming to meet these requirements,…
Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) are homing in on the potential benefits of allowing patients access to the notes their clinicians write after a visit. An article published in the August edition of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety suggests that this kind of patient engagement has the power…
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 now has come to medical records in the form of OpenNotes. This is a patient-centered initiative…
Outside the walls of medicine, seismic shifts are affecting how health professionals do their jobs and how the public experiences care. People are harnessing information previously outside their reach and are connecting with one another online in ways not imagined a few years ago. With ready access to the Internet and the use of always-on…
HEALTH CARE DELIVERY Perspectives by Dave deBronkart and Jan Walker, RN, MBA Society for Participatory Medicine, Nashua, NH; and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA We congratulate Martin [1] on his thoughtful description of how he has opened clinical notes to his patients. We write in response from two perspectives. One…
The polling question was simple. Should patients have access to their entire medical record ‒ including MD notes, any audio recordings, etc…? For many, the response by over 2,300 physicians came as no real surprise. 49% ‒ Access to all records should only be given on a case‒by‒case basis 34% ‒ Yes, Always 17% ‒…
During a recent physical, Jeff Gordon’s doctor told him he may be pre-diabetic. It was a quick mention, mixed in with a review of blood pressure numbers, other vital statistics like his heart rate, height and weight, and details about his prescription for cholesterol medication. Normally, Gordon, 70, a food broker who lives in Washington,…
