Our Mission

History

Working to help patients take a more active role in their own health care.

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Research

Always learning more about the effects of open notes on patients and systems.

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Supporters

Collaborating with the best in the country to improve health care.

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Team

We're dedicated to making open notes the new standard of care for all.

Meet Our Team

Our History At A Glance

Where the OpenNotes movement began, and where we’re heading.
See The Full Timeline

2009

OpenNotes Starts with Collaboration

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.

2012

A Major Milestone

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.

2013

Engaging Patients as Safety Partners

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.

2015

OpenNotes Looks to the Future with OurNotes

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.

2015

Moore, Peterson and Cambia Join RWJF

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.

Recent Publications & Research

Read All Our Research

Perceptions of Primary Care Notes by Patients With Mental Health Diagnoses

Original Research — July 10, 2018

Abstract: There are concerns regarding whether patients with mental illness should be provided with access to their electronic medical records. This study compared perceptions of patients with (n = 400) and without (n = 2,134) a mental health diagnosis regardi ...

Tackling Ambulatory Safety Risks Through Patient Engagement: What 10,000 Patients and Families Say About Safety-Related Knowledge, Behaviors, and Attitudes After Reading Visit Notes

Original Research — May 23, 2018

Background: Ambulatory safety risks including delayed diagnoses or missed abnormal test results are difficult for clinicians to see, because they often occur in the space between visits. Experts advocate greater patient engagement to improve safety, but strate ...

Ethical Challenges Raised by OpenNotes for Pediatric and Adolescent Patients

May 21, 2018

Sharing clinic notes online with patients and parents may yield many potential benefits to patients and providers alike, but the unprecedented transparency and accessibility to notes afforded by patient portals has also raised a number of unique ethical and le ...

Empowering informal caregivers with health information: OpenNotes as a safety strategy.

Original Research — March 14, 2018

Patients frequently depend on informal caregivers (e.g., family, friends, or paid workers) to assist with various aspects of medical care, such as medication administration and travel to medical appointments. OpenNotes seeks to share clinicians’ notes wi ...

Editorial: A New Chapter in Patient-Centered Care: Sharing the Medical Note?

November 14, 2017

The 21st century has ushered in a distinct emphasis on patient-centered care in allopathic medicine, as manifested by the increasing implementation of patient-centered medical homes and the frequent use of patient-centeredness in guidelines, health systems, an ...

Patients Contributing to Their Doctors’ Notes: Insights From Expert Interviews

November 14, 2017

Background: In a rapidly expanding practice directed toward improved communication, patient engagement, and patient safety, clinicians are increasingly inviting patients to read office visit notes on secure electronic portals. Reports from doctors and patients ...

What patients value about reading visit notes: a qualitative inquiry of patient experiences with their health information

Original Research, Peer Reviewed — July 1, 2017

Background: Patients are increasingly asking for their health data. Yet, little is known about what motivates patients to engage with the electronic health record (EHR). Furthermore, quality-focused mechanisms for patients to comment about their records are l ...

Patients Typing Their Own Visit Agendas Into an Electronic Medical Record: Pilot in a Safety-Net Clinic

March 23, 2017

Collaborative agenda setting is a communication skill that helps patients identify concerns early in the clinic visit, possibly diminishing the number of “Oh, by the way” items at the end of visits, and increasing patient satisfaction. Agenda setting, howe ...

Your Patient Is Now Reading Your Note: Opportunities, Problems, and Prospects

Commentary, Peer Reviewed — October 1, 2016

Patients have unprecedented online access to their medical records. More than 6 million Americans can now read their doctors' notes via patient portals, and continued rapid growth is likely. Sharing notes with patients may yield important health benefits, incl ...

Health Records All Access Pass

Original Research, Peer Reviewed — August 27, 2016

Patient Portals that allow viewing of clinical notes and hospital discharge summaries: the University of Washington OpenNotes implementation experience Many healthcare organizations are striving to improve patient engagement by facilitating patient access t ...

Our Team

Tom is the John F. Keane & Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Un
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Catherine (Cait) is Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a distin
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Carolyn is an award-winning broadcast journalist, former network television executive, an
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Sigall is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She leads the Open
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Topister (Topi) Bonyo is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health in Health Policy and
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As a member of the OpenNotes team, Homer works with electronic health record (EHR) vendor
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Joe comes to OpenNotes from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Department of Nursing
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Joann has been a core member of the OpenNotes team from its inception and remains an acti
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Rossana grew up in northern Italy in the city of Turin. Her fascination for science drew h
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Amy is involved in the vulnerable population and vendor strategies for furthering the spre
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Leonor is an educator and internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and As
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Trisha is the Director of Research Operations. She has worked in the Boston medical commu
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Alan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Massachusetts Boston an
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Matt is a primary care doctor and medical director of quality and patient safety at Beth
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Kendall received her B.A. in Psychology from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts
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As a member of the OpenNotes team, Suzanne is examining new approaches to patient access t
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Our Supporters

From individual patient advocates to major national philanthropies, people and organizations around the country are rallying behind OpenNotes.
Meet Our Supporters