"A New Cancer Diagnosis is Never Good—Patient Choice, Busy Health Systems, and Health Information Access"

Federal rules require health systems to make health information available electronically when patients request it—often through a single click in the patient portal. In this JAMA Network Open commentary, Cait DesRoches, DrPH, S. Trent Rosenbloom, MD, MPH, and Bryan Steitz, PhD, explain how workflows designed for administrative efficiency can have unintended consequences for patients. They explore how patients have gone from being unable to access their health information to being unable to avoid it. Read more. (open access)

Rosenbloom, ST, Steitz, B, & DesRoches, CM. (2026). A New Cancer Diagnosis is Never Good—Patient Choice, Busy Health Systems, and Health Information Access. JAMA Network Open, 9(6), e2619982. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.19982

"Early Experience With a Patient-Facing AI Chatbot Integrated in a Patient Portal"

Could AI make test results easier to understand? A study of 131 adults tested a secure, AI-powered virtual assistant built into the UC San Diego Health patient portal (developed with Epic Systems). The tool explained patients’ own lab and diagnostic results in clear, supportive language—and users responded positively: nearly 77% said they would be very or extremely likely to use it again. The findings suggest that this kind of portal-based support may be especially helpful for people managing several health conditions, though larger real-world studies are still needed. Read more. (open access)

Tai-Seale M, Millen M, Vaida F, et al. Early experience with a patient-facing AI chatbot integrated in a patient portal. JAMIA Open. 2026;9(3). doi:10.1093/jamiaopen/ooag083

"What Do Patients Consider Sensitive Health Information? A Cross-Sectional Survey of National Patient Portal Users"

Finnish researchers evaluate patients' perception of the sensitivity of open notes in this study in Sage Journals. According to surveys with open-ended responses, mental health and intimate health were the most reported sensitive topics. This was particularly true among adolescents and was dependent on who was able to access the information. Read more. (open access)

Simola S, Kujala, S, Kharko, A, et al. (2026). What do patients consider sensitive health information? A cross-sectional survey of national patient portal users. Digital Health, 12. https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076261459512

"An Evaluation of AI‐Generated Clinical Notes in the OpenNotes Era: A Thematic Analysis of Clinician Discourse"

This analysis of professional Reddit forums in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice calls for greater transparency when it comes to use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Although ambient scribes ease the burden of documentation on clinicians, the quality of this note-taking is suspect given the frequency of AI hallucinations. The researchers call on a credible human review process to address the problem. Read more. (open access)

Atiku, S, & Olakotan, O. (2026). An Evaluation of AI‐Generated Clinical Notes in the OpenNotes Era: A Thematic Analysis of Clinician Discourse. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 32(5), e70516–e70516. https://doi.org/10.1111/jep.7051

"From Documentation to Communication: Rethinking Language in Clinical Notes"

This editorial in the Journal of General Internal Medicine calls on clinicians to replace medical jargon with plain language. According to a survey conducted at the Minnesota State Fair, 70% of respondents preferred plain language. This survey likely underestimated this preference since the people surveyed were graduates of higher education and were English speakers. Read more. (open access)

Green, BA, Gonzalez, F, & Elmore, JG. (2026). From Documentation to Communication: Rethinking Language in Clinical Notes. Journal of General Internal Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-026-10600-6

"Re-Centering Clinical Documentation in the Age of AI Scribes: Four Aims of the Patient Chart Note"

Clinical documentation is no longer for clinician-eyes only. This paper defines four uses for an open note; clinical reminders, external communication, administration documentation, and patient education. Without active clinician participation in the note-taking of ambient scribes, AI threatens to become a crutch for doctors, particularly aspiring ones. Read more. (open access)

Chwen-Yuen, AC, Leung, TI, Bajra, R. (2026). Re-Centering Clinical Documentation in the Age of AI Scribes: Four Aims of the Patient Chart Note. JMIR Publications. https://mededu.jmir.org/2026/1/e95218

"How Wisconsin Doctors and Patients Are Using AI to Assist with Healthcare"

The American Medical Association found that more than 80% of clinicians are using AI, double the amount that were using it in 2023. Brooke Crotty, MD, is both hopeful and concerned about the new technology. She says, “I think we’re going to co-evolve with AI over the next decade or so, where AI is part of the care team and part of the care process, but it is just that: It’s part of a broader process. It’s not a standalone service." Read more.

"How The Patient Rights Revolution Builds on America’s 1776 One"

Michael Millenson, president of Health Quality Advisors, writes about the long history of patients' rights and shared decision-making. Like the American Bill of Rights, patients' rights have been codified without practical follow-through in the exam room. He looks to AI as a new frontier of patient autonomy, calling out the work of Dave deBronkart, Liz Salmi, and Hugo Campos in shaping that future. Read more.