EHR Access: A Revolution or a Starting Block?

In April of 2021, patients across the country faced one of the biggest triumphs in health care transparency of the century: an ability to access their own electronic health record (EHR) data, usually at no cost. Theoretically, gone were the days of having to rely solely on one-page discharge summaries or requesting transfer of records weeks in advance via paper forms and hefty fees (both of which I have combatted myself as a patient in transitioning clinics). 

I was encouraged by the proposed changes and saw success in their implementation as a clinician and patient alike. While there were exceptions, overall, access became easier and more streamlined for individual patients and their respective clinics. Patients were and are vested partners in their health care. Treating them as such is of vital importance to their overall success, as increased participation can and does allow for improved outcomes. There are, undoubtedly, innumerable benefits to patients having access to their health records that go beyond piquing attentiveness, although this is a critically important point in its own regard. 

And yet, patients are still pigeonholed without access to their universal record. They have no way of amalgamating information across clinicians. Patients await an invite to each individual portal, without a single way to connect the information.

As such, unequivocally, coordination of care can be exceedingly challenging for patients. As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, I have seen the obstacles that impede patients in getting their team of clinicians to share pertinent medical information with each other. On the patient side, delays in care occur as a result. On the clinician side, frustration ensues trying to get records available to make the necessary changes to treatment plans, using up precious administrative minutes in the pursuit of acquiring progress notes. 

What have clinicians done when information isn't available? We rely on our patients to fill in those blanks. Yet, when we depend on self-report entirely, pieces of the puzzle can easily get missed – a sliver of information deemed irrelevant skipped over, and a patient may be starting down the wrong treatment path. The fragility of self-report in research has long been established, and the problem is paralleled in clinical medicine (though not enough attention has been paid here in my estimation). 

Even with this breakthrough in EHR access, individuals still don’t have the means to coalesce their records across clinicians and practices. That requires a digital revolution - one we’re aiming to catapult. Where do we go from here? We unite our resources, with fervor ignited by recent legislation. We innovate for a future of EHR synergism, patient engagement, and close monitoring of care, where we combine objective historical data, patient self-report, and clinician expertise in the name of true patient-centered care.

Dina Veytsman is the Medical Affairs Lead at Headlamp Health. She is a board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner and staunch digital mental health tech advocate.