Patient first: How EHRs can better serve our shared mission

KevinMD August 27, 2017
Bill Russell

An exchange between former Vice-President Joe Biden and EPIC CEO Judy Faulkner at a Biden Cancer Initiative event has again elevated the discussion of patient access to their medical records.

You can read the discussion on Politico. However, Biden’s main point was that patients needn’t justify their claim to their own EHR records.

In fairness to Ms. Faulkner, they did express a common view: medical records are too complex for patients to understand and access will only add confusion.

This position is a primary obstacle to progress within health care.

A closer look at the problem

EHR providers hold a powerful position. Most EHR implementations cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Some, billions.

Health systems are still writing off these...