Although patients have a right to their medical records, very few request copies. Shared doctors' notes, resources for researching health care providers, and tools for tracking health conditions are all helping patients become partners in their own care.
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OpenNotes is helping increase patient engagement in their care. Doctors at three health care instutitions invited patients to view their visit notes online. Doctors were worried this would add to their already-heavy workloads and increase patient anxiety. This year-long study confirmed that many of those concerns were unfounded—and, in fact, patients became more active participants in their care.
98,000 Americans may lose their lives every year to preventable medical errors
In Camden, N.J., one doctor discovered that a relatively small number of patients were going to the hospital over and over, costing the system millions of dollars—one patient averaged a hospital visit about once every three days. He developed a way to target care for these people, and cut their health care costs in half.
Learn moreLooking at data from local hospitals, Brenner and his team learned that 20 percent of the patients accounted for 90 percent of the cost. One person had gone to the emergency room 113 times in one year; another had gone 324 times in five years. “We need to figure this out,” says Brenner, “because if you can fix health care for a high utilizer you can fix it for everyone.”
What we're doing in Camden is trying to reinvent the healthcare system one patient at a time.”
Jeffrey Brenner, MD
Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers
Jeffrey Brenner discusses his work in Camden, N.J.
Philadelphia, NYC, Mississippi, and California all have shown recent declines in childhood obesity rates. Promoting healthy eating and physical activity in schools and communities has helped make a difference.
Learn how these cities and states are fighting childhood obesity
While many cities and states are working to address childhood obesity, Philadelphia, New York City, Mississippi, and California have emerged as leaders. These places are making sweeping changes to make healthy foods available in schools and communities and integrate physical activity into people's daily lives. To date, Philadelphia is the only place that has reported making major progress to reduce disparities among African American and Hispanic youths.
of U.S. high school students could buy regular soda in 2010-11, down from 54% in 2006-07
Launched two years after the release of a landmark Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, the site supports the Campaign's work to improve the ways nurses are educated, trained and practice. It also offers news and information on nursing and health care to visitors new to the issue.
Eric Coleman, MD, MPH, a geriatrician and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, credits RWJF Clinical Scholars Program with helping him become a 'change agent.'
Read moreSharing patient data using mobile devices—what factors need to be considered to protect patient-generated health information created or shared, using smartphones and other mobile devices?
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Productivity lost to serious diseases and conditions such as diabetes and depression is estimated to cost $1.1 trillion annually.
This brief shows how wellness programs can help improve employee health and productivity, lower health care costs, and boost a company's bottom line.
Get critical local, state and federal government information and research.
OpenNotes, a yearlong study funded primarily by RWJF, set out to answer a simple, but revolutionary, question: What happens when we give patients access to the notes their doctors write about them? The answer: Patients become more active partners in their own care.