Inviting patients to read their doctors' notes: a quasi-experimental study and a look ahead.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Little information exists about what primary care physicians (PCPs) 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 (BIDMC) in Massachusetts, Geisinger Health System (GHS) in Pennsylvania, and Harborview Medical Center (HMC) in Washington.

Participants

105 PCPs and 13,564 of their patients who had at least 1 completed note available during the interventi

SUBMITTER: Delbanco T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3908866 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature