OpenNotes is an international, nonprofit movement advocating for a culture change in the way visit notes are managed. We’re committed to spreading the availability of open visit notes and studying the effects. We believe that providing ready access to notes can empower patients, families, and caregivers to feel more in control of their health care decisions, and improve the quality and safety of care.
Based at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Tom Delbanco, MD, and Jan Walker, RN, MBA, receive funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) for a first-of-its kind exploratory study inviting patients to read their medical notes online. The experiment involves 105 doctors at three diverse sites and 20,000 of their patients.
The highly positive results of the one-year study are published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Several health systems across the country make plans to implement OpenNotes.
CRICO/Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions supports the OpenNotes Patient Safety Initiative. The goal is to examine how inviting patients to review their notes can make care safer.
OpenNotes receives a grant from the Commonwealth Fund of New York to develop OurNotes, an initiative that explores how patients might contribute to their own health records.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Peterson Center on Healthcare, and the Cambia Foundation join RWJF to announce additional funding for OpenNotes. The prime goal: Expand access to 50 million patients by 2020.
“How come as a patient, we’re last in line for our own data?”
"As a mother of three active children, OpenNotes helps me to stay organized and on top of the health care of my family."
“OpenNotes is just like the period at the end of a sentence. It helps me understand what my doctors are doing.”
“We believe that information transparency is crucial. An informed and engaged patient is a healthier patient.”
“I totally agree that OpenNotes is important for any patient regardless if they speak the language or not, because the information is there.”
Your Patient Is Now Reading Your Note: Opportunities, Problems, and Prospects