OpenNotes is a demonstration and evaluation project exploring what happens when the medical record becomes far more transparent than in the past. Through their health systems' secure websites, primary care doctors are inviting their patients to read the notes they write about them following visits, e-mail correspondence, or phone conversations. More than 100 doctors and 25,000 patients are participating.

The study is being conducted at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania, and Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. It is supported by a major grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pioneer Portfolio, and supplemented by grants from the Drane Family Fund, and the Katz Family Foundation.

In the July 20, 2010 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, the OpenNotes investigators published a Perspective: "OpenNotes: Doctors and Patients Signing On." It explores in some detail the issues our project addresses. The Annals is kindly providing the article free on its website.