OpenNotes Patient Reporting Tool FAQs

Who will see my comments?

Your responses will be reviewed by our Patient Relations team. If they see a safety concern (a problem in your note that could immediately affect your care), they will call you and your provider. Otherwise, your individual comments will not be seen by your health care provider. Your responses will help us to evaluate where we can focus our efforts to improve patient-clinician communication. As we learn more about this, we may share a group of anonymous comments from pooled patient responses with clinicians or health care leaders to direct care improvements, but your name will not be included. You may feel free to discuss any questions or concerns or positive feedback with your provider at any time.

What is “Patient Relations?”

The Patient Relations staff at BIDMC are experienced social workers and nurses who facilitate communication and routinely respond to patient and family compliments and concerns. Given their expertise, they are uniquely suited to review patient feedback forms in this project, and follow up with patients and health care providers as needed.

Will my comments be confidential? Where will my comments or requests be stored?

Your comments will be kept confidentially in a secure, password-protected computer. If you report an inaccuracy or other problem with your note that could lead to harm, we will tell your provider so that the problem can be corrected.

What will be done with the information I report?

If you report an inaccuracy or other problem with your note that could lead to harm, we will tell your provider so that the problem can be corrected. Otherwise, we will remove all names and combine responses from all participating patients so that we may learn from the collective patient feedback. The information may be reviewed as part of our Quality Improvement efforts and/or shared anonymously with healthcare providers to improve care. This will help us learn how to best improve the accuracy of patient notes and what patients like about reviewing their notes.

When should I expect to hear back about my comments?

In most cases, if there is a safety concern (a problem that could affect your care), the Patient Relations team will be in touch with you within 2-3 days.  If the Patient Relations team does not think your comments point to a problem that can immediately affect your care, you may not hear anything back after submitting your feedback. If you have not heard anything back and you are concerned about something in your note, please call your provider’s office, or bring your question to your next visit.

What if I request a change to my notes?

A correction can be added to your note, but only for information that is factually incorrect. Because a medical record is a legal document, nothing in a note can be deleted. Comments that are clinical judgments cannot be changed, and it is the provider’s choice what information to include. Lastly, notes are written based on the information available at the time.  It is not possible to add information that was not available at the time of the visit to a note with an earlier date.

What if the provider does not agree with my comments?

If your provider decides not to change or add anything in the note, our Patient Relations team may contact you to talk further with you.

I get a chance to provide feedback on some of my open notes but not all of them. Why?

Not all providers are currently participating in this project.  You will only see notes providers who are participating.

OTHER QUESTIONS:

If you have technical concerns or questions, please contact us at patsite@bidmc.harvard.edu.

We hope you will consider participating!