What It Will Take to Fix Electronic Health Records

 In a perfect world, electronic health records (EHRs) would simply work. Clinicians would be able to devote most of their time and attention to patient interactions, and EHRs would capture every decision and scrap of relevant information about patient encounters easily and effortlessly. They would smooth the patient journey through the health care system and support clinicians in their decision-making.

 To put it simply, clinicians would be free to do what they do best—understand the needs and wishes of patients and develop the best course of treatment.

 Of course, we don’t live in that world, at least not yet. A lack of standardization and the health care marketplace’s misaligned incentives to hoard information have hampered the creation of next-generation EHRs. From cumbersome user interfaces to onerous billing requirements, EHRs are more of a burden than a blessing. Half of office-based primary-care physicians say using an EHR actually detracts from their clinical effectiveness. But while EHRs have many problems, I believe that we’re on the verge of a breakthrough.

 In a recently published white paper, we at Stanford Medicine have proposed an ambitious vision for EHRs over the next 10 years. It is based on input from dozens of industry experts who joined our EHR National Symposium earlier this summer as well as hundreds of physicians who participated in a survey we conducted with The Harris Poll. This paper synthesizes the hopes and concerns shared by these physicians and examines what it will take to transform EHRs from an administrative burden into a useful sidekick.

 The Hard Truth

 At the outset of our national symposium, we committed to not point fingers at any one group as the culprit for why EHRs have, thus far, largely failed to live up to their potential. And good thing. By the end of a full day of panels and working groups, we understood that we all shared in the blame, including clinicians.

 This may not be a popular opinion. But as heated as the debate over EHRs has become, the hard truth is that we cannot code our way to a perfect EHR. Awaiting an elegant technology fix is an alluring prospect. However, in reality, technology is only one piece of a large and complex puzzle that we must solve in order to arrive at our vision for EHRs by 2028. In the paper, we examine those other pieces and how they fit together.

 By acknowledging this truth, we can soberly assess how each stakeholder group plays a role in building the EHR of tomorrow. Together, we will improve EHRs and, perhaps most importantly, make them powerful tools that inform patients’ daily health decisions. That, in the end, would be truly revolutionary.

 The reason I am so confident about this future is, in no small part, due to the collaborative spirit numerous stakeholders have shown in coming together to chart this path forward. I encourage you to read the white paper and join us as we work to create a future where EHR systems work for everyone.