What physicians really want from their EHR

Findings show physicians need less data overload, more interoperability from their healthcare technology

In the era of digital health, clinicians are spending more time trying to glean insights from an increasingly complex web of data than ever before. From coordinating with specialists to navigating different hospital systems, the sheer volume of data is overwhelming the healthcare community. Too often, physicians spend more time sifting through the data than using it to improve outcomes. This disconnect isn't just inefficient—it's contributing to physician burnout. Our 2025 Physician Sentiment Survey, which takes the pulse of how physicians are feeling about the state of healthcare annually, shows that 80% of physicians feel that a lack of data sharing between systems contributes to increased stress levels.

Addressing the data overload crisis

In my role at athenahealth, I frequently hear from clinicians frustrated by the endless barrage of data flowing from hospitals, labs, imaging centers, pharmacies, and other sources. The irony is that physicians didn’t enter the medical field to be bogged down by data management. They entered to help people. However, the reality is that much of their time is spent pulling together fragmented information about a patient across documents, faxes (yes faxes!), lab results and medication lists—leaving less time for the human element of care.

Data from our recent Physician Sentiment Survey, which surveyed 1,001 physicians across the U.S., continues to paint a clear picture about the need for information exchange and the gap physicians experience in getting the information they need:

• 95% of physicians believe that relevant patient information delivered at the right time is critical for effective care.
• 72% need better connectivity between information systems.
• 69% want products and services that can reduce administrative burdens.

These findings point to a larger problem the industry has grappled with for years: interoperability.

The goal isn’t just to improve technology. We need to make sure that data is relevant, easy to understand, and integrated efficiently into clinicians' workflows.

Bridging the gaps with interoperability

The shift toward value-based care, which rewards better outcomes and reduces unnecessary costs, requires a new approach to managing patient data. Interoperability is key to achieving this. Having a complete view of a patient’s history, regardless of where they’ve received care, allows clinicians to reduce duplicate testing, close care gaps, and make more informed decisions.

Our latest survey data supports this need for better connectivity and data flow. A significant 95% of physicians believe that having relevant patient information at the right time is crucial to improving care. At the same time, 72% agree that improved connectivity between information systems would dramatically ease their workloads. Interoperability isn’t just a tech upgrade—it’s fundamental to better care experiences for physicians and patients alike.

ChartSync, along with our broader focus on interoperability, is designed to help practices meet these challenges. It offers a streamlined workflow that reduces administrative burdens and improves the accuracy of patient records. More importantly, it’s a tangible expression of our commitment to a definition of interoperability where healthcare data is actionable, relevant, and embedded in the clinical workflow, ensuring that clinicians have what they need when they need it.

This need for better exchange of data from across the healthcare ecosystem—no matter which EHR a clinician or other healthcare provider may use—is the biggest pain point and what ChartSync is directly trying to solve. In our 2025 survey, only 28% of respondents said that sending and receiving patient data on a different EHR is easy.

While this number is up significantly from previous years (from 21% in 2024) and the rate is higher among respondents who believe AI is helping reduce administrative burden (37%), the results still reflect a healthcare system that’s not working well enough for physicians. ChartSync launched in Spring 2025, and I look forward to hearing from customers—and seeing next year’s data—on how it’s helping address this persistent challenge.

The need for true interoperability in healthcare

The healthcare industry has been talking about interoperability for more than a decade, since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the Health IT for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act were passed in 2009. These initiatives pushed the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and aimed to improve connectivity across the healthcare community. Yet, 15 years later, we’re still falling short of the promise of fully interoperable healthcare data.

The transition to true interoperability—where systems communicate and share relevant data without friction—has proven to be slower than anticipated. While the industry has made great strides in EHR adoption, the lack of interoperability continues to create bottlenecks, resulting in wasted time and missed opportunities for improving patient care.

The time has come for healthcare IT to deliver on its promises—and at athenahealth, we’re doing just that. As of 2025, 99% of practices on athenaOne are connected not only to each other but also to the broader healthcare ecosystem, including hospitals, practices and HIEs. Building on that foundation, we’re rolling out ChartSync to help practices seamlessly integrate external data into the patient record, no matter where it comes from. Our athena-generated AI models then turn that data into usable insights—creating intelligent patient summaries that support better care in real time.

Empowering clinicians with actionable data

At athenahealth, we’re focused on ensuring that healthcare data is not only accessible but actionable. Physicians want data they can use—not just more of it. In our recent survey, 77% of respondents agreed that more clinical data isn’t always the answer to higher quality care.

The goal isn’t just to improve technology. We need to make sure that data is relevant, easy to understand, and integrated efficiently into clinicians' workflows. This means reducing the complexity of managing patient data, allowing clinicians to focus more on care and less on administrative tasks. Our data shows that electronic health records still have a way to go in this regard: only 56% of respondents agree that their EHR makes them more efficient and 52% agree that their EHR simplifies clinical workflows.

ChartSync, part of our athenaOne® platform, exemplifies how we’re tackling data overload. It pulls relevant patient data from hospitals, pharmacies, imaging centers, and other care settings, automatically integrating it into the patient record and providing real-time insights and summaries based on this data. This reduces the time physicians spend searching for and manually updating patient data. Instead, the data they need is ready and actionable when they need it.

But ChartSync is just one part of the broader solution. What we need is more comprehensive interoperability—a systemwide ability to connect the dots across healthcare and enable the flow of relevant patient data across the continuum of care.

The path forward: A unified healthcare ecosystem

As we look ahead, we’re working toward an interoperable future where all players in healthcare can easily and efficiently share data. With initiatives like TEFCA (Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement) paving the way for national interoperability standards, we believe the healthcare ecosystem will finally see the benefits of truly connected systems—but only if EHR vendors step up and implement them.

At athenahealth, we’re focused on integrating our solutions into this larger ecosystem, ensuring that practices can connect with the national network while minimizing the barriers to interoperability and frictionless data exchange. Through our partnership with CommonWell Health Alliance, every provider on the athenahealth network will automatically be part of TEFCA in 2025. We’re done waiting. We’re building solutions now that make healthcare data more useful, more accessible and more meaningful for the people who need it most.