Overview
While electronic health records (EHRs) have led to many improvements in the quality of cancer care, they have also been identified as a contributor to clinician burnout and dissatisfaction. However, EHRs have the potential to enhance both patient and provider experiences, while also supplying a rich source of real-time information captured at the point of care. This information can be used to better understand treatment effectiveness, practice patterns, and patient outcomes. In addition, the EHR can be a useful platform for support of prospective clinical trials.
In 2022, the National Cancer Policy Forum convened a workshop, “Innovations in Electronic Health Records for Oncology Care, Research, and Surveillance,” to address these challenges and re-envision EHRs in a way that supports patients, clinicians, payors, and federal agencies in their shared goals of improving patient outcomes and advancing cancer care and research. Recently published in JCO Oncology Practice, this collaborative report describes the current EHR challenges and offers tangible opportunities for action to re-envision the EHR for the benefit of patients and clinicians.
Why this matters
This report provides clear guidance to align patients, clinicians, health systems, payors, EHR vendors, and regulatory agencies, on improvements to the EHR necessary to ensure patients receive high-quality care, clinicians maintain their well-being, and research can continue to advance. Effective, innovative technology at the point of care is critical to improve and extend lives by learning from the experience of every person with cancer.