Inviting patients and care partners to read doctors’ notes: OpenNotes and shared access to electronic medical records

Abstract

We examined the acceptability and effects of delivering doctors' visit notes electronically (via OpenNotes) to patients and care partners with authorized access to patients' electronic medical records. Adult patients and care partners at Geisinger Health System were surveyed at baseline and after 12 months of exposure to OpenNotes. Reporting on care partner access to OpenNotes, patients and care partners stated that they had better agreement about patient treatment plans and more productive discussions about their care. At follow-up, patients were more confident in their ability to manage their health, felt better prepared for office visits, and reported understanding their care better than at baseline. Care partners were more likely to access and use patient portal functionality and reported improved communication with patients' providers at follow-up. Our findings suggest that offering patients and care partners access to doctors' notes is acceptable and improves communication and patients' confidence in managing their care.

“Let him speak:” a descriptive qualitative study of the roles and behaviors of family companions in primary care visits among older adults with cognitive impairment

“…A small but growing body of evidence suggests that engaging family through health information technology may hold promise for respecting patient preferences for involving family in care delivery (Aikens et al, ; Piette et al, ; Wolff et al, ). Clinician participants in our study commented on the utility of electronic communication in the care of patients with cognitive impairment and noted that family companions typically use the patient's username and password.…”

Family members’ experiences supporting adults with chronic illness: A national survey.

“…Sharing access to patients’ personal health records with health supporters may be a promising method to enhance supporter-provider communication. Existing research indicates that shared patient-supporter access to patients’ personal health records is an underused, but acceptable, and effective method for improving patient-provider communication and patients’ confidence in their care (Sarkar & Bates, 2014; Wolff, Darer, et al, 2016; Zulman et al, 2011). …”

Design and Development of a Person-Centered Patient Portal Using Participatory Stakeholder Co-Design (Preprint)

“…It provides patients with access to some or all of their personal health information (PHI) within the EMR. Patient portals are generally positively reviewed by patients and clinicians and have been associated with improved patient engagement, patient empowerment and patient satisfaction [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”