A Note from Cait Right now, nearly 26 million patients have access to their visit notes nationwide. As we continue to grow we increasingly hear health systems leaders ask, “How do we do OpenNotes  well ?” Our goal is not just to encourage health systems to “turn on” access to visit notes, but to do it in a way that delivers the greatest benefit to both clinicians and patients. As we gather information from health systems across the country, some important principles have begun to emerge. First, patient education is necessary for robust implementation. Many patients don’t know that clinicians write notes or that they may benefit from reading them. Second, notes can be hard to find in most patient portals. You may need to change your portal navigation to make finding notes as easy and intuitive as possible. Third, talking with clinicians and leaders at other health systems is a valuable way to learn how to maximize the benefits of OpenNotes to patients and clinicians. Finally, you can count on us as a resource. We continually update our  Implementation  and  Communication  toolkits as we better understand best practices. Bookmark these pages on our website, visit often, and don’t hesitate to contact us with your questions.

Spotlight: Vancouver Clinic Helping Patients find Notes

Vancouver Clinic in Vancouver WA embarked on the OpenNotes initiative with a pilot in May of 2014, followed by a clinic launch in July of the same year. Vancouver Clinic later upgraded its Electronic Medical Records system, which led to some changes in the portal and in how patients accessed notes. This lowered the rate at which clinical notes were viewed. Vancouver Clinic has taken a number of steps since then to make it easier for patients to find their notes. Find out what they did!

OpenNotes Surges Ahead in Southern California  As of the end of last month more than 25 million people are able to access clinical notes through their secure, online patient portals at over 120 health systems throughout North America. A considerable number of health systems launching OpenNotes in 2018 are located in the Golden State, with 10 of the 11 newly launched California health systems located in Southern California alone. Read more!

Karen DeSalvo Joins OpenNotes Advisory Board  The OpenNotes team is thrilled to announce Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, has joined the OpenNotes advisory board starting May 2018. In this role, DeSalvo joins a team of accomplished advisors providing counsel and informed guidance to the OpenNotes organization and its senior leadership. Read more!

OpenNotes Researcher Gets Linde Fellowship  We are excited to congratulate our own Dr. Leonor Fernandez on receiving the Linde Family Fellowship for Primary Care leadership and innovation. Her project will focus on the development of strategies that enhance the quality and experience of care for patients with limited English proficiency as a model to improve care for all patients.

Measure Me; Don't Judge Me Don't miss this article in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics co-authored by our very own Liz Salmi ! "Why do I care about a Karnofsky performance status that is incongruous with my lived experience? When it comes down to it, I care because in a health care setting my medical record is my identity." Read the full article!

33 health systems have joined us since January! 25,858,000 patients now have access to OpenNotes Visit our map to see the full list of health system sharing notes.

Bastyr Center for Natural Health Catholic Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Centura Health Children's Mercy Kansas City Christiana Care Clinica Romero Froedert and the Medical College of Wisconsin Gundersen Health Healthe Cerner Clinic Johns Hopkins Medicine Kaiser Permanente Southern California Los Angeles County Department of Health Services McFarland Clinic Methodist Health System Monterey County

National University of Natural Medicine Newton Wellesley NYC Health & Hospitals Ozarks Community Health Center Rady Children's Hospital Roswell Park Cancer Institute Scripps Health St. Joseph Healthcare (Covenant Health) St. Joseph Hospital (Covenant Health) St. Mary's Health System (Covenant Health) Stanford Children's Health The Christ Hospital Truman Medical Center UCLA Health UC San Diego Health University of Western States Valley Health

More News from OpenNotes "What's your doctor writing about your visit?" San Diego Tribune “ Committing to Patient Autonomy with OpenNotes ,” ABIM Foundation “ Improving Patient Involvement in Care ,” NEJM Catalyst Steve O’Neil & Liz Salmi Present at the Beryl Institute’s Patient Experience Conference Technology and Transparency: Empowering Patients and Clinicians to Improve Health Care Value , Annals of Internal Medicine New Research “ Empowering Informal Caregivers with Health Information: OpenNotes as a Safety Strategy ,” The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety “ Ethical Challenges Raised by OpenNotes for Pediatric and Adolescent Patients ,” AAP News & Journals " Tackling ambulatory safety risks through patient engagement: what 10,000 patients and families say about safety-related knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes after reading visit notes ," Journal of Patient Safety Catch Us Here!  ORCHWA Annual Conference - Saturday, August 18th

New National HIT PFAC Up and Running! OpenNotes is partnering with PFCC Partners , a national organization dedicated to advancing patient and family centered care, as well as patient and family advisor engagement, so their voices can help improve the e-health experience. The new National HIT PFAC met for the first time in April. It’s a diverse group of patients and caregivers from across the country, all of whom believe deeply in the importance of transparency in healthcare and the need for patients and caregivers to have access to full information about their health. We look forward to learning from, and with, this group over the coming months. Our initial areas of focus include navigation to notes, after-visit summaries, OurNotes, and more. Don't forget to check out our PFAC toolkit!

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