Tuesday morning in Washington, the Post hosted a 2-1/2 hour event on improving healthcare, with numerous speakers on several topics. Of special interest to SPM is this 26 minute segment that includes OpenNotes, which we’ve often written about. OpenNotes director Tom Delbanco is one of the three speakers. He describes the historic origin of OpenNotes and has updates on how it’s going – not perfect (four doctors have withdrawn, nationally) but overwhelmingly positive. He always likens it to “a new medicine,” with benefits and side effects.

But note, too, the other panelists’ repeated mention of “gag orders” that have been placed on doctors, forbidding them to speak out about specifically how badly their EMR systems suck. (That’s the word I’ve often heard doctors use.)

And around 26 minutes, Delbanco cites SPM board member-at-large Dr. Peter Elias, who was basically doing OpenNotes before it had a name. (When Peter and I first met at an event in Maine, he also said he’s been doing participatory medicine since long before it had a name, too.)

This video will be of use if you ever want to give someone a quick introduction to OpenNotes.