Advantage Care Health Centers (Advantage Care Diagnostic and Treatment Center)

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 2022, 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 Advantage Care Health Centers a grant to participate in this initiative.

Advantage Care is a federally qualified health center in Nassau County that provides primary care, specialty care, and health-related support services to approximately 2,500 patients annually through 2 community health centers and the Fay J. Lindner Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities. Under this grant, Advantage Care will continue to implement and improve the use of shared notes within its system and participate in a technical assistance and peer-learning network. With a focus on improving note-sharing with its patient population, which includes children, adolescents, and adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities, Advantage Care will enhance the sharing and usability of notes through provider training, notes audit, and notes translation. It will also conduct patient education, outreach, and navigation to support use of shared notes and seek patient feedback.

See a full list of grantees participating in this initiative.