Inviting Patients to Read Their Doctors' Notes: A Quasi-experimental Study and a Look Ahead

Background: Little information exists about what primary care physicians and patients experience if patients are invited to read their doctors' office notes.

Objective: To evaluate the effect on doctors and patients of facilitating patient access to visit notes over secure Internet portals.

Design: Quasi-experimental trial of PCPs and patient volunteers in a year-long program that provided patients with electronic links to their doctors' notes.

Setting: Primary care practices at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Massachusetts, Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, and Harborview Medical Center in Washington.

Participants: 105 PCPs and 13, 564 of their patients who had at least 1 completed note available during the intervention period.

Measurements: Portal use and electronic messaging by patients and surveys focusing on participants' perceptions of behaviors, benefits and negative consequences.

Results: 11 797 of 13 564 patients with visit notes available opened at least 1 note (84% at BIDMC, 92% at GHS, and 47% at HMC). Of 5391 patients who opened at least 1 note and completed a postintervention survey, 77% to 87% across the 3 sites reported that open notes helped them feel more in control of their care; 60% to 78% of those taking medications reported increased medication adherence; 26% to 36% had privacy concerns; 1% to 8% reported that the notes caused confusion, worry, or offense; and 20% to 42% reported sharing notes with others. The volume of electronic messages from patients did not change. After the intervention, few doctors reported longer visits (0% to 5%) or more time addressing patients' questions outside of visits (0% to 8%), with practice size having little effect; 3% to 36% of doctors reported changing documentation content; and 0% to 21% reported taking more time writing notes. Looking ahead, 59% to 62% of patients believed that they should be able to add comments to a doctor's note. One out of 3 patients believed that they should be able to approve the notes' contents, but 85% to 96% of doctors did not agree. At the end of the experimental period, 99% of patients wanted open notes to continue and no doctor elected to stop.

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