Ever wondered what’s in your medical record? If you have access to OpenNotes, you won’t have to wonder anymore One of my favorite Seinfeld episodes is the one where Elaine sneaked a peek at her medical record after the nurse left the exam room. Reading it, she discovered that her doctor described her as a difficult patient (because she didn’t…
Physician's story
Forbes: New Poll Shows Two‒Thirds Of Doctors Reluctant To Share Health Data With Patients
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% ‒…
RWJF Google Hangout: Opening the Care Conversation through OpenNotes
During RWJF’s First Friday Hangout, we heard from a provider and a patient being honest about their experiences with OpenNotes. The conversation shouldn’t stop there. How can we as patients or providers continue to fight for greater health transparency? What is one thing your organization can do to make transparency in health care the norm…
Physicians News: Should Doctors Tell Parents When They’ve Made Medical Mistake?
When a medical error leads to patient harm, it’s hard to argue that no one is more upset than the patient’s family. However, it’s often overlooked that the doctors or nurses who caused that error also may be devastated. “One of the most difficult experiences for any doctor or nurse is when they realize that…
Life as a Healthcare CIO: Wikipedia and Facebook for Clinical Documentation
Over the past several years I’ve written about the inadequate state of clinical documentation, which is largely unchanged since the days of Osler, (except for a bit more structure introduced by Larry Weed in the 1970s) and was created for billing/legal purposes not for care coordination. One of the most frequent complaints in my email…
The Healthcare Blog: An Open Note to Open Note Objectors
There is a growing group of articulate and engaged patients committed to getting access to all their medical information in order to be better positioned to work collaboratively with their clinical teams. Published studies like the OpenNotes project have consistently shown significant benefits and a lack of serious problems. Health care systems are slow to…
Shape: Would You Want to Read Your Therapist’s Notes?
If you’ve ever visited a therapist, you’ve likely experienced this very moment: You spill your heart out, anxiously await a response, and your doc looks down—scribbling into a notebook or tapping away at an iPad. You’re stuck: “What is he writing?!” About 700 patients at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital—part of a preliminary study at…
Seattle Magazine: Personal Health Records
New tools for Seattle’s tech savvy health consumers to track their health care details “Our patients want OpenNotes, and it will help them to become involved and educated partners in their medical care,” says study coauthor Joann G. Elmore, M.D., M.P.H., and professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Harborview Medical Center.…
The Healthcare Blog: Is Sharing Mental Health Notes with Patients a Good Idea?
Would allowing patients to read their mental health notes provide more benefits than risks? In a recent article in JAMA my colleagues and I argue that it would. While transparent medical records are gaining favor in primary care settings throughout the country through the OpenNotes initiative, there has been reluctance to allow patients to see what their…
Milwaukee Magazine: The Doctor Will Write You Now
Thanks to the computerization of medical records, the illegible scrawl of your doctor is mostly a thing of the past. Soon to be gone, too, might be the misunderstandings some patients have after they leave the doctor’s office – thanks to an initiative called OpenNotes. Pioneered in Wisconsin by the Columbia St. Mary’s health care…
