There is a movement happening within the health field for Americans to have access to their full medical record, including the notes doctors, nurses and other clinicians write after a visit. The engine behind this movement: OpenNotes.
OpenNotes hit an important milestone this week with 10 million Americans now able to read their medical notes securely online. Among the 10 million patients who can now access their notes online, more than three million are Veterans. One of the first health systems in the country to share notes, the Department of Veterans Affairs expanded patient health record access in 2013, offering VA OpenNotes through their Blue Button tool. In addition to the VA, 50 health systems in 35 states now share notes online using secure patient portals. OpenNotes is actively working with health organizations moving toward implementation in a majority of the remaining 15 states.
In the last six months alone, Duke Health in North Carolina, Rush University Medical Center and Springfield Clinic in Illinois, University of Utah Health Care, Agnesian Healthcare in Wisconsin, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Sutter Medical Foundation and Open Door Community Health Center in California, Sanford Health headquartered in the Dakotas, Samaritan Health Services in Oregon, Providence Health & Services sites in Oregon and Washington, and UCHealth in Colorado have all started sharing notes.
OpenNotes intends to reach more than 50 million Americans over the next three years and with the 10 million mark, they are well on their way. Initial support for OpenNotes came from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and last fall, the Moore Foundation, Peterson Center on Healthcare and Cambia Health, joined them in supporting the spread of OpenNotes across the U.S. Read more here.
The full release press release on the recent milestone and a message from OpenNotes’ new executive director, Dr. Cait DesRoches can be found here.
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