In this webinar two of the nation’s top experts on “open mental health notes” will cover what clinicians need to know about sharing therapy notes with patients, and the nuances associated with an upcoming federal mandate that requires visit notes be shared with patients. You will learn about:
- The origins of OpenNotes
- Major findings from research about sharing therapy notes with patients
- Real clinician experiences with open notes in mental health
- Best practices for writing an open mental health note
- How the federal “Interoperability & Information Blocking rule” applies to mental health notes, including exceptions and when to “hide” a note from patient view
- Resources to learn more about the research
Check back here for links to the recorded webinar.
Bonus Office Hours: Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Noon-1pm Pacific / 3-4pm Eastern
Register for office hours
Limited to first 75 registrations
Why this matters: There is an urgent need for U.S. clinicians to get up to speed on best practices for open notes within a matter of months. Beginning April 5, 2021, the 21st Century Cures Act will require patients be provided access to all the health information in their electronic medical records without charge by their healthcare providers, psychotherapy notes are an exception to this rule.
Note: Open notes is not a new concept, but rather a new way of approaching patient-clinician relationships through more transparent communication.
About Office Hours
Office Hours is an opportunity to ask more specific questions about open notes in an informal group setting. The goal is that you and others will learn from the experts and each other. There is no formal presentation during Office Hours. We encourage you to register for the Sharing Mental Health Notes with Patients companion webinar on Tuesday, January 12, 2021, before attending Office Hours, although it is not mandatory.
About the presenters
Steven K. Dobscha, MD, is Director of the VA Health Services Research and Development-funded Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care (CIVIC) located at VA Portland Health Care System, and Professor of Psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University. His research interests include suicide prevention; approaches to integrating psychiatric and primary medical care; treatment of chronic conditions including chronic pain in primary care, and patient engagement in care. Over the past several decades, he has provided clinical care in primary care settings, and developed co-located mental health-primary care teaching and clinical programs. He has also contributed actively to national VA programmatic efforts related to pain and suicide prevention.
Stephen (Steve) F. O’Neill, LICSW, BCD, JD, is the OpenNotes specialist in Behavioral and Mental Health, and is Faculty in the Center of Bioethics at Harvard Medical School. Steve was the Social Work Manager for most of the behavioral health practices at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for many years, where he was also the Associate Director of the Ethics Support Service. Through his leadership, he began the first ever program in making behavioral health therapist notes readily available to patients through their personal computers in 2014. Steve has extensive teaching experience, numerous committee assignments including the Professional Review Task Force of NASW, Harvard Medical School’s Clinical Ethics and Organizational Ethics Consortiums and Harvard Medical School’s Ethics Leadership Group.
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