The American Medical Informatics Association entered into a formal collaboration with OpenNotes, AMIA announced at its 2017 Annual Symposium Nov. 6.
OpenNotes is an international movement that encourages physicians and nurses, among other healthcare providers, to share clinical notes with patients online through secure patient portals. Patients often have trouble gaining access to their clinical notes, despite having the legal right to review them, according to AMIA officials.
The goals of the OpenNotes movement include improving patient engagement and supporting shared decision making.
"The evidence-base is clear: providing patients access to their physician's notes improves physician-patient communication and trust, patient safety and perhaps even patient outcomes," said Thomas Payne, MD, board chair of AMIA and medical director of IT services at the University of Washington's UW Medicine in Seattle.