La Casa de Salud

Shared visit notes, often referred to as open notes, are an important way to help consumers become active participants in their own care.

When patients have access to their own visit notes written by health care providers, they better remember and act on information discussed during visits, improve communication with their health care team, and better manage their health. The 21st Century Cures Act, a recent federal mandate, requires health care providers to make clinical notes available to patients electronically and at no charge. However, the level of compliance and, most importantly, the proactive use of open notes to improve care vary among health systems. In 2023, NYHealth issued a Request for Proposals (RFP), “From Good to Great: Improving Access to and Use of Patient Visit Notes in Non-Hospital Systems,” to support non-hospital systems across New York State in sharing open notes in compliance with recent federal rules and using open notes to more meaningfully engage patients. In 2023, NYHealth awarded La Casa de Salud (LCDS) a grant to participate in this initiative.

LCDS is a federally qualified health center in the South Bronx that provides comprehensive primary care and behavioral health services to approximately 8,000 patients annually across 6 sites. Under this grant, LCDS will continue to implement and improve the use of shared notes within its system and participate in a technical assistance and peer-learning network. LCDS will enhance the sharing and usability of notes through provider training, with an emphasis on writing patient-friendly notes. It will also conduct patient education and outreach and seek patient feedback on both patient engagement and provider training efforts. LCDS will also upgrade its patient portal to facilitate easier note-sharing.

See a full list of grantees participating in this initiative.