OpenNotes is an international movement committed to spreading and studying the effects of transparent communication among patients, families and clinicians. We are motivated by evidence indicating that when health professionals offer patients and families ready access to clinical notes, the quality and safety of care improves.
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.
New U.S. Law Mandates Access to Clinical Notes: Implications for Patients and Clinicians