May 20, 2013, 12:59 PM, Posted by
Steve Downs
In a post this week on the Kevin MD blog, Jon Darer, chief innovation officer for the Division of Clinical Innovation at Geisinger Health System, discussed Geisinger's decision to roll out OpenNotes to most of its physicians and patients.
Geisinger's approach highlights the choices that will be facing many health systems: The results of the OpenNotes study, published last fall, provide compelling evidence to go forward in general, but there is a need to be careful and thoughtful about how to do so. Different specialties and different patient populations have special circumstances that need careful consideration. And each institution has its own culture to be navigated. As more early adopters like Geisinger move forward, we'll learn more about how best to implement this practice and through that learning, make it more widely available. — Steve Downs
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May 8, 2013, 8:00 AM, Posted by
Steve Downs
“Today, Geisinger Health System, one of the nation’s premier health systems, is taking an important step to expand OpenNotes. We hope other systems follow Geisinger’s lead to share doctors’ notes with patients, giving them information they can use to participate more meaningfully in their care." – Steve Downs
This excerpted post by Geisinger CEO Glenn Steele, MD, first appeared in October 2012, when results from the OpenNotes pilot were released. Geisinger was one of three health systems that participated in the study.
…As a health system CEO who also is a doctor, I believe it is an ethical imperative that our patients at Geisinger know everything that we know about them. And, I think it’s a logical imperative that if we can open up our medical visit notes to our patients, we’ll find out what they understand and what they don’t, so we can answer questions and work as partners to chart a path to better health.
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Apr 16, 2013, 3:15 PM, Posted by
Pioneer Blog Team
Earlier this year, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) embraced OpenNotes, enabling more than 1 million veterans who currently have access to the VA personal health record to view or download their own medical notes along with their health record information via the My HealtheVet Blue Button. In a recently published study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), the VA's Susan Woods, MD, MPH, a longtime champion of open access and transparency, examined patients’ views and experiences with reading their health records, including clinical notes. The study is the first qualitative look at VA patients’ experiences viewing electronic records that included clinical notes and lab test results. Woods and her colleagues showed that viewing records and notes appeared to empower patients and increase their involvement in their own care but Woods says new communication skills will be needed to optimize the user experience.
In a recent interview, Woods discussed the power of open medical notes for patients and clinicians.
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Jan 4, 2013, 12:36 PM, Posted by
Pioneer Blog Team
By Jan Walker, RN, MBA, and Suzanne Leveille, RN, PhD, of OpenNotes
This is cross-posted from ADVANCE Perspective: Nurses
As nurses, we've always been focused on the patient. Teaching patients about their health and advocating for patients are both incredibly important parts of the job. That's why we got involved with OpenNotes-an initiative that invites patients to review the visit notes written by their doctors, nurses, or other clinicians.
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Dec 27, 2012, 11:45 AM, Posted by
Brian C. Quinn
As New Year’s Eve approaches, let’s take a look at a few of Pioneering Ideas’ greatest hits of 2012 one last time.
We rang in 2012 with a post about an idea Steve Downs called simple and dangerous—OpenNotes, an experiment that has enabled patients to read their doctors’ medical notes. We believe OpenNotes has the potential to transform the way patients engage with health care professionals—and take charge of their health.
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