ArticleJournal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA2015
VA OpenNotes: exploring the experiences of early patient adopters with access to clinical notes.
Article in Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
69 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Impact of online patient access to clinical notes on quality of care: a systematic review.BMJ quality & safety · 2026Pooled it
- Evaluating a web-based personalized decision report for total knee or hip replacement: Lessons learned from patients.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2023Trial
- Evaluation of Multimedia Medication Reconciliation Software: A Randomized Controlled, Single-Blind Trial to Measure Diagnostic Accuracy for Discrepancy Detection.Applied clinical informatics · 2018Trial
- Patient Education for Consumer-Mediated HIE. A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the Department of Veterans Affairs Blue Button.Applied clinical informatics · 2016Trial
- Parent Experiences Accessing Inpatient Clinical Notes on a Pediatric Oncology Service.Hospital pediatrics · 2026Article
- Patient-Accessible Electronic Health Records and Information Practices in Mental Health Care Contexts: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Guidelines for Patient-Centered Documentation in the Era of Open Notes: Qualitative Study.JMIR medical education · 2025Article
- Design and implementation of a prototype radiotherapy menu in a patient portal.Journal of applied clinical medical physics · 2024Article
- Do patients who read visit notes on the patient portal have a higher rate of "loop closure" on diagnostic tests and referrals in primary care? A retrospective cohort study.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2024Article
- Perception of Physicians' Notes Among Parents of Different Health Literacy Levels.Hospital pediatrics · 2024Article
- A Patient-Centered Documentation Skills Curriculum for Preclerkship Medical Students in an Open Notes Era.MedEdPORTAL : the journal of teaching and learning resources · 2024Article
- The State-of-the-Art of Patient Portals: Adapting to External Factors, Addressing Barriers, and Innovating.Applied clinical informatics · 2023Review
- Patients' Experiences of a National Patient Portal and Its Usability: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Clinical ethics consultation documentation in the era of open notes.BMC medical ethics · 2023Review
- A Natural Language Processing Model to Identify Confidential Content in Adolescent Clinical Notes.Applied clinical informatics · 2023Article
- General Practices' Experiences With Patients' Web-Based Access to Medical Records: Survey Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Perspectives of Patients About Immediate Access to Test Results Through an Online Patient Portal.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Attitudes and Experiences of Clinicians After Mandated Implementation of Open Notes by the 21st Century Cures Act: Survey Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- A Patient-Centered Approach to Writing Ambulatory Visit Notes in the Cures Act Era.Applied clinical informatics · 2023Article
- Article
9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo explore the experience of early patient adopters who accessed their clinical notes online using the Blue Button feature of the My HealtheVet portal.
methodsA web-based survey of VA patient portal users from June 22 to September 15, 2013.
results33.5% of respondents knew that clinical notes could be viewed, and nearly one in four (23.5%) said that they had viewed their notes at least once. The majority of VA Notes users agreed that accessing their notes will help them to do a better job of taking medications as prescribed (80.1%) and be better prepared for clinic visits (88.6%). Nine out of 10 users agreed that use of visit notes will help them understand their conditions better (91.8%), and better remember the plan for their care (91.9%). In contrast, 87% disagreed that VA Notes will make them worry more, and 88.4% disagreed that access to VA Notes will be more confusing than helpful. Users who had either contacted their provider or healthcare team (11.9%) or planned to (13.5%) primarily wanted to learn more about a health issue, medication, or test results (53.7%).
conclusionsInitial assessment of the patient experience within the first 9 months of availability provides evidence that patients both value and benefit from online access to clinical notes. These findings are congruent with OpenNotes study findings on a broader scale. Additional outreach and education is needed to enhance patient awareness. Healthcare professionals should author notes keeping in mind the opportunity patient access presents for enhanced communication.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.