AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchange Focuses on Increasing Patient Involvement in Health Care

The October 10 issue of AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchange features three profiles about innovative programs that increase patients’ involvement in health care. Two programs provide patient access to online medical records via secure patient portals, and one program offers patients access to routine laboratory tests between visits, enhancing engagement and satisfaction. One profile describes an initiative known as OpenNotes®, in which doctors invite patients to access their notes detailing medical office visits via secure patient portal linked with their electronic medical record system. Patients may read a note to develop a better understanding of their care; to discuss aspects of the visit with the doctor at the next office visit; to act on self-management, treatment, and other recommendations included in the note; or to share the note with others, including family members and other providers. More than 1,000 primary care doctors and 20,000 of their patients at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, and Harborview Medical Center in Seattle participated in a 12-month demonstration project of OpenNotes®. Early feedback from this project suggests that the program generated high levels of satisfaction among patients and the doctors who volunteered to participate. Select to read more innovation profiles related to patient involvement in health care on AHRQ’s Health Care Innovations Exchange Web site, which contains more than 725 searchable innovations and 1,500 QualityTools.