Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

True consumer empowerment begins when patients have access to the information they need to talk to their health care providers, share information, and develop a trusted relationship.

OpenNotes is a national movement that spurs real patient engagement by giving patients and their caregivers access to the clinical notes written by health care providers. When patients have such access, they can develop stronger relationships with their providers; initiate conversations about or co-develop their care plan; develop a sense of ownership over their health information and treatment decisions; better remember what was discussed during a visit; become patient-safety partners by identifying errors in their records; and take medications as prescribed. To foster the spread of OpenNotes to more New York State hospitals and patients, NYHealth issued a request for proposals, Spreading OpenNotes in New York State. Through this initiative, NYHealth is supporting hospitals across the State in implementing OpenNotes at their facilities. In 2017, NYHealth awarded Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) a grant to participate in this initiative.

Under this grant, ISMMS built upon its use of OpenNotes in its primary care practices to spread OpenNotes to all patients throughout its network, comprising 7 hospitals in New York City with approximately 3,500 beds and 300 ambulatory locations. As approximately 30% of its patients are Spanish-language preferred, ISMMS also engaged and empowered Spanish-speaking patients by using navigators who worked at its two largest ambulatory practices, translating notes for these patients and assisting them in using OpenNotes.

See a full list of Spreading OpenNotes in New York State grantees.