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 devices, expectations have never been higher for the availability of health-related information and online services.
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OpenNotes is a growing initiative to provide patients online access to encounter notes. A prospective intervention at 3 large health systems found study patients engaged more in their care and reported benefits from note access. Initial concerns from participating providers were largely unfounded, and none elected to stop note access after the research had ended.[3] Although pathology reports have not typically been accessible through patient portals, this has not been the case at the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). Long a leader in digital records, VA began opening patient access to EHR data in 2000. National implementation expanded in 2010 with laboratory results accessed through the Blue Button function. Full access to clinical notes and test results expanded significantly in January 2013. VA patients with online access can view data after a 3-day hold, and pathology reports can be accessed 14 days after completion. The experience of VA patients in accessing their EHR data mirrors the findings of OpenNotes research.[4]
Read Dr. Susan Woods’s full article here!
