Innovation Snapshot Summary More than 100 primary care doctors and 20,000 patients at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, and Harborview Medical Center in Seattle participated in a 12-month demonstration project of OpenNotes ® , a program where doctors invite patients to access their notes detailing medical office visits via a…
OpenNotes Pilot
Fox: Sharing the Doctor’s Note: Win for Patients and Physicians
By Barbara Mannino, October 25, 2012 Quick: when was your last tetanus shot? What was the date of your last surgery? What medications and dosage are you taking? Does cancer run in the family? It can be hard to accurately remember your entire medical history, but thankfully our medical records, including doctor’s office-visit notes, provide…
CBS: Doctors Begin Sharing Notes With Patients
BOSTON (CBS) — It’s a simple idea that could transform health care. Doctors are now sharing their notes with patients and some say it started in Boston. “It’s a way of getting people really actively involved in their health care, which is so vital to how they do whether they are healthy or whether they are…
Forbes: Historic Day in Opening Doctor’s Notes
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” – Arthur Schopenhauer German philosopher (1788 – 1860) The transition from “Open Notes” being a fringe concept to being self-evident is rapidly taking place catalyzed by a recently released study on Open Notes.…
The New York Times: Letting Patients Read the Doctor’s Notes
The patient, a wiry businessman in his 50s, needed a copy of his medical records to bring to a specialist for a second opinion. He assumed that getting the copies would be straightforward; the records were, after all, his. But after multiple trips to his doctor’s office and the hospital and several days of missed…
The Atlantic: Would You Want to See Everything Your Doctor Writes About You?
Let’s say you gained a bit of weight since your last physical. You know it, deep down at least, but you don’t really want to talk about. You’ve convinced yourself that it’s just a phase. It’s one thing to have your doctor point it out to you in the exam room. But what if, at…
The Wall Street Journal: Access to Doctors’ Notes Aids Patients’ Treatment
Patients who have access to doctor’s notes in their medical records are more likely to understand their health issues, recall what the doctor told them and take their medications as prescribed, according to a study published Monday. The study, published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine, is the culmination of an experiment known as OpenNotes, an effort…
The Boston Globe: Patients benefit from reading doctors’ notes, study shows
by Liz Kowalczyk, Should patients be able to read the notes doctors write about them? Physicians have disagreed about this issue for years. But in a new study from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, patients reported that opening up notes increased their understanding of their medical problems and improved their compliance with medication regimens. Despite…
Ted Eytan, MD Blog: Now Reading: OpenNotes results are HERE
by Ted Eytan “little impact on doctors, 99% of patients recommended continuation” When I was visiting Group Health Cooperative in Seattle 2 weeks ago, I was involved in a conversation about releasing/sharing imaging results with patients online, as Group Health (@GroupHealth) has been doing for about a year (See: What Group Health Physicians are saying about…
The New York Times: Project Puts Records in the Patients’ Hands
by Roni Caryn Rabin In an old “Seinfeld” episode, Elaine goes to see a dermatologist about a rash, and is left sitting on the table in the exam room, alone with her medical chart. She opens the folder and almost immediately makes a sour face. “ ‘Difficult’?” she says, reading aloud. Let’s face it: We’ve all…
