Everyone on the same page.
Open Notes Labs studies how patient access to their health information strengthens communication, trust, and safer care.
Together we areTransforming health care through transparency.
Based at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Open Notes Labs is an academic lab researching and teaching transparent communication among patients, care partners, and clinicians. BIDMC is an affiliate of Harvard Medical School.
Open notes are the clinical documentation written during and after patient visits. They have the power to transform healthcare. When patients read their medical record, they better understand their care, remember treatment plans, spot errors, and feel more in control of their health.
What is an open note?
Who benefits from open notes?
Open Notes Labs research shows that individuals from traditionally underserved populations—such as older adults, non-English speakers, and people with lower educational attainment—may benefit the most from open notes.
Our historyGrounded in evidence. Committed to equity.
For 15+ years, Open Notes Labs has been the trusted authority on transparent communication in healthcare. Our 100+ peer-reviewed publications inform national and international policy, including the U.S. 21st Century Cures Act requirement for open notes. Our work helps health systems across the globe implement open notes and train clinicians on how to write notes with patient readers in mind.
For research partnersWhere patients, open notes, and artificial intelligence meet.
Emerging information technologies in clinical documentation and patient-clinician communication offer exciting opportunities. They also present significant challenges. Ensuring these tools work well for patients and clinicians is critical.
For healthcare professionalsLearn how open notes can strengthen your practice.
Open Notes Labs works directly with health systems to provide training for care teams, and answer the questions clinicians care about most: How do I write notes now that patients will see them? What is the impact of open test results on my patients? How might open notes change my practice in the age of AI? We provide practical resources, education, and evidence about how open notes affect clinical practice and patient outcomes.
For patientsReading notes written by your clinician can help put you in control of your healthcare. Open notes help you understand what happened during your visit, remember what to do next, catch errors in your medical record, and have better conversations with your care team.
Make your medical record work for you.
New from Open Notes Labs
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What Patients Want from Clinicians and Health Systems as AI Enters Clinical Care
Most explorations of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare focus on the perspectives and experiences of clinicians. Little attention has been paid to patients as stakeholders. This report results from a co-design exercise designed to understand what patients want from clinicians and healthcare organizations as AI becomes embedded in care.
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An Agenda to Support Care Partner Engagement Through the Patient Portal
In this commentary for NEJM Catalyst, Wolff and DesRoches offer a roadmap for advancing patient portal policies and practices that better support care partners as essential members of the care team. The article reviews the current landscape of care partner access through patient portals, and outlines a research, policy, and practice agenda.
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A New Cancer Diagnosis is Never Good—Patient Choice, Busy Health Systems, and Health Information Access
This invited commentary examines how patients receive serious test results through electronic portals, particularly a new cancer diagnosis. Rather than imposing universal delays, our authors call for better research, flexible release options, anticipatory guidance, and patient-controlled notifications.
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Introducing a New Open Notes Labs Resource: How to Use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) To Understand Your Health Information
This resource offers accessible information about AI, large language models (LLMs), and open notes.
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Open Notes Labs Celebrates Dr. Catherine M. DesRoches on Appointment as John F. Keane & Family Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School
Dr. DesRoches’ appointment reflects decades of scholarship and leadership dedicated to making health information more accessible, understandable, and useful for patients and care partners.
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Open Notes Labs Joins PCORI-Funded Study to Advance Equity in Health Research
Funded by a $2.1 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), Open Notes Labs announces its participation in the Characterizing Engagement and Equity in Research (CHEER) study, an initiative led by researchers at the University of Colorado. CHEER aims to improve methods of engaging diverse and historically underrepresented communities in health research.
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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Receives National Library of Medicine Award to Advance Patient-Centered AI
The $1.5 million 4-year study is led by Sigall K. Bell, MD, Director of Patient Safety and Discovery at Open Notes Labs, and Adam Rodman, MD, MPH, Director of AI Programs at Harvard Medical School. The researchers will co-design and test, together with patients “HealthCoach,” a large language model (LLM)-driven chatbot available in English and Spanish.
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Study Aims to Mitigate Scanxiety & Misinformation in Cancer Care
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center launches a new study to alleviate the challenges cancer patients face in understanding their medical test results. Led by Open Notes Labs, “Mitigating Misinformation & Scanxiety for Cancer Patients” focuses on reducing the stress and confusion patients may face when receiving medical test results electronically before having the opportunity to discuss them with a clinician.
