Our Mission

OpenNotes is an international movement 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 healthcare decisions, and improve the quality and safety of care.

Supported by philanthropies, OpenNotes does not sell software or other products. The OpenNotes team is headquartered in the Division of General Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a 501(c)3 organization and teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School in Boston.

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.

Meet Our Supporters

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

The Views and Experiences of Clinicians Sharing Medical Record Notes With Patients

March 31, 2020

In this web-based survey study of 1628 clinicians, most viewed note sharing positively (74% agreed that it is a good idea and 74% viewed shared notes as useful for engaging patients in their care), and 37% of physicians surveyed reported spending more time in ...

Empowering patients and reducing inequities: is there potential in sharing clinical notes?

March 30, 2020

Patients who read their clinical notes via online patient portals (‘open notes’) report that doing so engages them actively in their care, improves their sense of control over their health and enhances safety. In several surveys, patients who are older, le ...

Dermatopathologists’ Experience With and Perceptions of Patient Online Access to Pathologic Test Result Reports

March 11, 2020

In this survey study of 160 dermatopathologists, 57% reported that they have been contacted by patients about their pathologic test result reports. ...

Embracing the new age of transparency: mental health patients reading their psychotherapy notes online

December 18, 2019

Our pilot findings indicate that most patients who read open therapy notes find them valuable for understanding and engaging in their mental health care, with minimal adverse effects. ...

Patients’ access to health records

Editorial — December 18, 2019

The international movement pushing to increase transparency by giving patients easy access to their health information parallels a broader shift in healthcare towards increased patient empowerment and participation. ...

A patient and family reporting system for perceived ambulatory note mistakes: experience at 3 U.S. healthcare centers

December 18, 2019

Partnering with patients and families to obtain reports on inaccuracies in visit notes may contribute to safer care. Mechanisms to encourage greater use of patient and family reporting systems are needed. ...

Ready or Not, We Live in an Age of Health Information Transparency

Editorial — May 28, 2019

A new study from the OpenNotes project (1) suggests that giving patients access to their physicians' visit notes may improve their understanding of and comfort with their medications, as well as adherence to medication regimens. ...

Patients Managing Medications and Reading Their Visit Notes: A Survey of OpenNotes Participants

Original Research — May 28, 2019

We examined patients' perceptions of how note reading affects factors related to medication adherence. In addition, we sought to understand their engagement with online medication lists and their willingness to participate in keeping those lists correct and up ...

OpenNotes After 7 Years: Patient Experiences With Ongoing Access to Their Clinicians’ Outpatient Visit Notes

Original Research — May 6, 2019

Following a 2010-2011 pilot intervention in which a limited sample of primary care doctors offered their patients secure Web-based portal access to their office visit notes, the participating sites expanded OpenNotes to nearly all clinicians in primary care, m ...

Impacts of a Web-Based Course on Mental Health Clinicians’ Attitudes and Communication Behaviors Related to Use of OpenNotes

Original Research — March 22, 2019

The OpenNotes initiative encourages health care systems to provide patients online access to clinical notes. Some individuals have expressed concerns about use of OpenNotes in mental health care. This study evaluated changes in mental health clinicians’ atti ...

Our Team

Tom is the John F. Keane & Family Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School (HMS
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Catherine (Cait) is Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a distin
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Sigall is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She leads the Open
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Charlotte Blease PhD, is a Keane OpenNotes Scholar with a background in philosophy and int
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Joe comes to OpenNotes from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Department of Nursing
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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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Maria Hägglund PhD, is a Keane OpenNotes Scholar and a visiting Lecturer on Medicine at H
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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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Paola serves as the Administrative Director at OpenNotes in the Division of General Medici
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Long is a member of the research faculty in the Department of Medicine at the Beth Israel
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Amanda is the Salesforce Administrator for OpenNotes, and a member of the Communications t
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Steve is the Social Work Manager for Psychiatry, Primary Care, Pain Management and Infect
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John played a leadership role in starting the Northwest OpenNotes Consortium and he now l
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Liz is the OpenNotes Senior Strategist. She’s also a patient who does not have access to
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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