"An Agenda to Support Care Partner Engagement through the Patient Portal"

Millions of patients rely on family members and friends to help manage their health, yet care partners often lack appropriate access to the information they need through patient portals. In a new NEJM Catalyst article, Jennifer Wolff, PhD (Johns Hopkins University) and Cait DesRoches, DrPH (OpenNotes) outline an agenda to expand shared portal access and introduce the Coalition for Care Partners to advance research, policy, and practice. Read the article. (paywalled)

Wolff JL, DesRoches CM. An agenda to support care partner engagement through the patient portal. NEJM Catalyst. 2026;7(7). doi:10.1056/cat.25.0312 

"Centering the Patient in Student Documentation: A Novel Curriculum and Assessment Rubric for Patient-Centered Note-Writing"

Robert Stern, MD and Anita Vanka, MD tested a patient-centered documentation curriculum for first-year students at Harvard Medical School. They developed a tool to assess whether the language in medical notes was encouraging, understandable, and free of bias. Students showed significant improvement in how they wrote about their patients. Read more. (paywalled)

Stern RM, Pelletier SR, Vanka A. Centering the patient in student documentation: a novel curriculum and assessment rubric for patient-centered note-writing. Academic Medicine. Published online April 30, 2026. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/acamed/wvag138

"Understanding Patient-Reported Offenses in Electronic Health Records: Cross-Sectional Mixed Methods Survey"

This Finnish study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) compares different patient groups' reactions to reading their open notes. The article reinforces clinician beliefs that mental health patients would be the most offended by their notes. In addition, women, people with significant health conditions, and those with higher education were most likely to report being offended. Read more. (open access)



Simola S, Kujala S, Cajander Å, Kharko A, Kane B, Wang B, Åhlfeldt RM, Hägglund M. Understanding Patient-Reported Offenses in Electronic Health Records: Cross-Sectional Mixed Methods Survey. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 2026;28:e86178-e86178. doi:https://doi.org/10.2196/86178

"The Release of Clinical Information Under the 21st Century Cures Act and Implications for Patients With Cancer: A Narrative Review"

This article in Annals of Palliative Medicine investigates existing writing on patients' and clinicians' experiences with digital access to oncology test results. Cancer patients reported benefits now that they have access to their health information following the 21st Century Cures Act. Many clinicians were concerned about changes that have resulted from this access, and evidence of problems was mixed. Read more. (open access)

Bergerot CD, McCollom J, Bergerot PG, Bergerot PG, Govindarajan A, Maues J, Tsang M, Nipp R . The release of clinical information under the 21st century cures act and implications for patients with cancer: a narrative review. Annals of Palliative Medicine. 2026;15(3):42-42. doi: https://doi.org/10.21037/apm-2026-1-0023

"In the United States, Patients Are Left to Face Their Diagnosis Alone"

Major French newspaper, Le Monde, reported on the U.S. social media trend where patients are sharing reaction videos to bad medical news. Liz Salmi (OpenNotes) shared her perspective on how far the U.S. has come toward immediate access to health information in the medical record, as well as remaining challenges in the American health system. Bryan Steitz, PhD (Vanderbilt University) advocated for patient choice about how to receive their health information. Read more. 
(This article has an auto-translate option from the original French.)

"Doctors, This Is Why Our Patients Are Using ChatGPT"

In this New York Times article, Helen Ouyang, MD, MPH (Columbia University) asks if AI is more human than us humans. She reflects on how ChatGPT's warm tone and style of interaction sheds light on a type of care that is lacking in most clinical interactions. Dr. Ouyang encourages clinicians to accept that their patients will inevitably turn to large language models (LLMs) and to help them use it in an appropriate manner. Read more.