Leveraging Electronic Health Records to Give Patients a Magical Experience

By Lawrence Garber, MD

We live in an age where almost anyone can pick up a phone, instantly see what’s happening with all of their friends, discover and research activities, make travel or restaurant reservations, and get the best directions based on mode of transit, traffic, and financial preferences. You can order something, watch where the delivery truck has your package and have it delivered to your home the same day. In most industries we are provided with almost magical services which feel like we are getting them for free. Of course, nothing is free. Some require us to give up our privacy and share data about ourselves or our friends. Others provide these tools to give them a competitive advantage for your purchase. But whatever the cost, we enjoy the experience and tell our friends to do the same. So why can’t healthcare provide similar magical experiences? While we can’t sell patient data to fund these services, we can leverage the electronic health record (EHR) to provide these services in order to attract and retain patients, as well as improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of healthcare.

Patients are starting to experience the same conveniences that they’ve enjoyed in other parts of their lives because of the EHR. If they have symptoms, at any time of day or night they can go online to a website or app that already knows their medical history, answer a few questions, and within five minutes learn about the possible conditions that could explain their symptoms, how to do self-care when appropriate and when to seek professional help and where. They can schedule online to be seen for a video visit or an in-person visit, or they can send along photographs to facilitate asynchronous messaging care (AKA e-visits). A quarter of the people who use this service have their problems completely handled without a visit or even involving anyone at the provider’s office. (Reliant Medical Group Data, 2022).

When patients need to come into the office for a visit, they too can have an enhanced experience because of the EHR. They can get appointment reminders, check in, pay co-pays and update their medical history from the convenience of their phone or home computer. In the waiting room they can see real-time updates of the wait time for their healthcare provider. Staff can see in the EHR exactly what the patient looks like so they can walk right up to the patient in the waiting room and privately invite them to come to the exam room. While waiting for the provider in the exam room, they can view a personalized educational slideshow based on the EHR’s problem list and overdue health maintenance. The provider knows exactly why the patient is there and what needs to be done based on scheduling and referral information, as well as alerts elucidated from EHR data. Information from the state immunization registry, pharmacies, outside providers and other healthcare organizations are readily available through the EHR so there can be shared decision making where both the provider and patient are well informed. And after the visit, the patient can access the EHR through their portal to see the provider’s notes and after-visit summary so they can better understand and follow their treatment plans.

Between visits, patients are starting to get access to new tools because of the EHR. In the past, diabetic or hypertensive patients would have to call in their home readings, which was a laborious task. Now, remote patient monitoring allows these and other measurements to automatically populate the EHR and alert the healthcare team if any of the findings are significantly abnormal. Patients can use “digital therapeutic” apps integrated with the EHR to help them manage anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, pain, COVID-19 symptoms, diabetes, pregnancy, surgery aftercare and many other conditions while automatically alerting the healthcare team of concerning trends. Patients are alerted when they are due for a test or procedure and can use self-service tools to, for instance, schedule their own mammogram or eye exam. Medication refill and renewal requests can be done online and medications can be delivered directly to the patient’s home. Patients automatically receive test results as soon as they are available to the provider. And the parents of children or the adult children of elderly patients can share in the care of their family members through the EHR’s patient portal.

EHRs have indeed made it possible to offer the same magical experience in healthcare that patients have grown to expect in other parts of their life: getting the information or performing the tasks they want or need whenever they want or need it. And just like in other industries, delivering this experience is how healthcare organizations compete for patients today. For patients, it’s no longer a question of whether your healthcare provider has an EHR, but rather, how well does your provider leverage their EHR to improve your care and experience?

Lawrence Garber, MD is an internist, the Medical Director for Informatics, and the Associate Medical Director of Research at Reliant Medical Group.