It’s Time for a New Kind of Electronic Health Record

Providers still encounter continual frustration on many levels: user interfaces and usability issues, the quality of the data entered, the limited ability of the data to support discovery and interoperability among systems, just to name a few. These limitations have confounded the ability of clinicians to deliver care during the Covid-19 crisis.

An overhaul of the electronic health record is overdue. It must go beyond fixing the user interface or improving interoperability. It must address the fundamental problems exposed by the pandemic. The overhaul must also support the ability of providers to adopt the new value-based-care business model of health care — one that rewards providers for outcomes rather than the volume of services and that shifts their focus from reactive sick care to the proactive management of health.