Electronic health records are still waiting to be transformed

In 2018, a Stanford Medicine/Harris Poll found that nearly half of U.S. primary care physicians said that electronic health records actually detract from their effectiveness as clinicians, and 44% said they believed that the primary value of these systems is data storage. Far from being a transformative health care tool to support clinical decision-making, a large portion of physicians feel they have traded physical filing cabinets for digital ones.

Electronic health records still have the potential to make health care more predictive, preventive, and precise — but only if we can achieve sustained collaboration among health care providers, technology companies, and health insurers to address their shortcomings. One step in that direction took place on Stanford’s campus last June, where we convened leaders in patient care, technology, design thinking, and policy to discuss a path forward for electronic health records. In principle, the group agreed on three points:

1. First, electronic health record systems must become interoperable.
2. Electronic health records must be redesigned to better respond to physicians’ needs. 
3. Building a more clinically relevant electronic health record system should incorporate artificial intelligence that can synthesize anonymized patient records; combine them with the medical literature; and provide insights at the point of care. 

The full STAT article can be viewed at this link.