Patient Access to Physician Notes Is Gaining Momentum (U.S.)

JAMA Network (open access)
June 21, 2016 

 For decades, patients could legally access their medical notes as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. But fees or long wait times to receive the records sometimes hampered the process (http://1.usa.gov/1TDgI4q). What sets OpenNotes apart is the ease and speed with which patients can access notes.

 The OpenNotes initiative was the brainchild of Tom Delbanco, MD, a professor of general medicine and primary care at Harvard Medical School, and Jan Walker, RN, an assistant professor of medicine, also at Harvard.