MU Health Care opens online access to patient notes

In an effort to create a more collaborative patient experience, MU Health Care is now offering digital access to medical notes made during a patient’s visit. The notes will be available on their online patient portal, MU Healthe, retroactive for most visits since December 1.

Health care employees use the notes to summarize the details of a patient’s visit, including clinical observations and test results. With the new system, these notes will be synced onto MU Healthe for patients to view after their visit.

The shared-notes system at MU Health Care was developed with the help of the Tiger Institute for Health Innovation. The two partnered in 2009, when the Tiger Institute was formed by former UM system president Gary Forsee and Neal Patterson, CEO of the Cerner Corporation.

In a press release, Chief Medical Information Officer Thomas Selva said the new system should encourage collaboration between patients and providers.

“We believe that patients should be a part of the health care team,” Selva said. “By making clinic notes available to patients through our secure online portal, patients can play a more active and informed role in their health care.”

In 2012, a study conducted at hospitals in Boston, Seattle and Danville, Pennsylvania reported that both patients and physicians benefitted from a shared-notes system. 82 percent of doctors in the survey said open notes were useful for patient communication, and patients said that the notes helped them feel in better control of their care.

“In today’s patient-centered environment, we want them to have access to their health information,” Selva said. “Our goal is for patients to ultimately have better outcomes and lead healthier lives.”