Transparency in medicine is a major goal for healthcare organizations and practitioners worldwide. The Division has served as a leader in efforts to promote and study transparency through the OpenNotes program. Inspired by former Division chief Tom Delbanco and his seminal work with the Salzburg Global Seminar, OpenNotes is an international movement committed to spreading the availability of open visit notes and studying their effects. Our vision is a world in which open, transparent communication is the standard of practice throughout all healthcare settings.
The OpenNotes team includes clinicians, social scientists, and patient advocates, working together to identify and disseminate best practices for sharing medical information with patients, families and care partners.
Supported by philanthropies, OpenNotes does not sell software or other products. Research Faculty members Cait DesRoches, Executive Director of OpenNotes, and Sigall Bell, Director of Patient Safety and Discovery, currently lead studies of the effects of medical transparency on a wide variety of outcomes, including medication use, patient safety, and patient-physician communication.