Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Project Puts Records in the Patients’ Hands

Roni Caryn Rabin, The New York Times, Jan. 9, 2012

From the article: "Patients have a legal right to their records, though access can prove difficult. What would happen if patients were encouraged not just to see their medical records but to take them home, study them and really own them? A research collaboration called OpenNotes has set out to answer this question, publishing the first results of a study on physician and patient attitudes toward shared medical records last month in Annals of Internal Medicine. For patients, at least, this seems to be an idea whose time has come. “Knowledge is power,” Ms. Walker said. “A patient goes to the doctor only once in a while, but in between visits, you’re making all kinds of decisions that affect your health every single day." Read more

See Also
Inviting Patients to Read Their Doctors' Notes: Patients and Doctors Look Ahead (purchase required to read full report)
Jan Walker, RN, MBA; Suzanne G. Leveille, PhD, RN; Long Ngo, PhD; Elisabeth Vodicka, BA; Jonathan D. Darer, MD, MPH; Shireesha Dhanireddy, MD; Joann G. Elmore, MD, MPH; Henry J. Feldman, MD; Marc J. Lichtenfeld, PhD; Natalia Oster, MPH; James D. Ralston, MD, MPH; Stephen E. Ross, MD; and Tom Delbanco, MD;  Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, and College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts; Geisinger Health System; Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington School of Medicine, and Group Health Research Institute, Group Health Cooperative; and University of Colorado Health Sciences Center; Annals of Internal Medicine, Dec. 20, 2011