EHR wish list: 5 things providers want from their EHRs in 2026 and beyond

A reliable EHR system can facilitate clinicians' access to crucial data, enhance communication and collaboration, streamline workflows and ultimately enable better patient care.  

EHRs have undoubtedly evolved in recent years, with improvements in usability and interoperability driven by initiatives such as the 21st Century Cures Act and advances in AI. 

However, they have a long way to go to become the seamless, user-friendly tools that healthcare providers envision. 

The following list explores the gaps in current EHR systems and the capabilities providers have on their wish lists for 2026 and beyond. 

Alleviate the information overload 

A core function of any EHR system is to store and present information. But actually finding and accessing specific information can sometimes be a challenge due to poor usability, data fragmentation and information overload. 

"It's very likely that you have a single sentence of a note from three months ago that's the most critical thing that you just missed. And so, figuring out how to deal with that information overload, both in terms of retrieving the information and then in terms of making sure you're seeing the right information, is a huge, critical issue," Maulin Shah, M.D., senior vice president and chief health information officer at Providence, said in an interview. 

Historically, EHR systems have tackled this problem by creating filters, reports or other mechanisms to streamline data presentation, showing the clinician only the information relevant for specific conditions rather than overwhelming them with all available data. 

"But it's always been lacking, and it's always been very, very manual in configuration. It requires a lot of resources in order to create these kinds of things. So that's probably one of my biggest asks, is how can I just get my information better?" Shah said. 

Shah pointed to the promise of AI to solve this problem by synthesizing charts in clinically relevant ways. 

"It's still all very much in its infancy, and I'd give it a B plus in its quality," he said. "And so, we need that to be an A plus if we really want to drive care, and I think that's a huge need." 

Implement AI for all relevant use cases 

Although AI in clinical settings is still in the early stages, early results show promise. 

Ambient AI scribes have emerged as one of the top use cases for AI in healthcare, with research showing they can reduce clinician burnout and time spent in the EHR. 

"Ambient has changed the world already. Of the people I've talked to, and I've done this for a long time, people have said that this is the most life-changing intervention that we've seen in our careers. We don't hear that very often," Shah said. 

Heather Heaton, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at Mayo Clinic, also praised ambient AI scribe technology, citing improved patient experience and reduced documentation time.

Given the positive results of this technology, providers appear ready to embrace AI in several other areas.

"What do EHRs need to do now? Implement AI in all the things," Shah said. "Here are some problem domains, and here's where you can focus, but make this information overload domain better. That's the overarching thing."

Shah noted that another AI use case could be enabling providers to better understand trends among patient populations by transforming unstructured data into actionable insights.

Heaton noted that Mayo Clinic is using predictive analytics to estimate the likelihood that a patient will present to the hospital, enabling the emergency room to plan more effectively.

She also noted other challenges that AI could alleviate.  

"One thing everybody would benefit from is better in-basket triage and prioritization," Heaton said. "We get so many messages from our patients and various other team members that it's hard to know where to even start. Smarter inbox triage and prioritization, I think, would be a huge opportunity for AI in the space." 

As AI in healthcare continues to expand, provider organizations are finding new ways to leverage it to save time and effort. 

More support for documentation burden, clinician burnout 

Documentation burden and clinician burnout remain a challenge in healthcare, even as tools, such as the aforementioned AI scribes, have entered the market to alleviate this particular pain point. Though technology companies and EHR vendors themselves continue to rapidly roll out new capabilities to ease documentation burden, clinicians need more support to truly meet the moment. 

Fewer clicks, less duplicative documentation across the patient encounter, templates that can adapt to a provider's specialty and patient complexity and context-aware clinical decision support (CDS) tools that surface the right information at the right time are all on Heaton's wish list. 

"We need more natural language processing, we need less checkbox-driven workflows. We need better delegation tools for team-based documentation, in my mind," Heaton said. 

"So, allowing more than just me to be able to put in the information -- make it a team-based approach. Maybe the patient helps support it, the nursing staff, maybe a non-licensed delegate, et cetera, but we need better tools to help bring all of that information together to disperse that need." 

Heaton also noted that many CDS tools generate too many alerts that do not add value, adding to the existing documentation burden. The next generation of EHRs, Heaton suggested, should focus more on personalized alert thresholds using predictive analytics to reduce false positives, learn from provider behavior and present valuable information at the right time. 

"What clinicians really want EHRs to do is to think the way that we think and help us practice the way we want to practice," Heaton added. "To me, it feels like the EHR should be that critical clinical partner that's walking alongside you and not the administrative obstacle that it sometimes feels like it is." 

Better training from EHR vendors, increased usability 

Despite marked improvements in EHR usability, providers still want to see reduced friction within the EHR and better training from EHR vendors so organizations can realize the full potential of their systems, Shah noted. 

"I have a Ferrari of an EHR, but I'm keeping it in the garage and just using it as a chair. Can I actually take it out of the garage and take it for a spin?" Shah said.  

"I think the vendors can do a better job at usability design, but they can also do a better job of how to do inline training and just-in-time training. How do I make my end users go from being novices to experts? That's something I think they can really work on as well." 

An EHR is a complex piece of software, Shah added, and it requires thoughtful training to enhance its usability. 

"Still, we are far ahead of where we were five years ago, and there's a lot of hope out there that wasn't there two years ago," he added.  

"There are a lot of people like, oh, 'we can AI this, we could add AI to that,' and that level of hope and energy, I haven't seen it since 2006, when people thought the EHR was going to be this great thing that makes things easier. It's an exciting time." 

Interoperability improvements 

Interoperability is another area where providers hope to see more progress in the future, building upon existing momentum. 

"For Mayo Clinic, we do a lot of cross-institutional care, so we have patients coming from all over the place, and so that ability to share information across institutions and coordinate care is extremely important. I think we're seeing that start to happen, which is great," Heaton said.  

"I really think that if this is done well, it's going to improve safety, reduce redundant testing and decrease healthcare costs. With interoperability, I think we are moving in that direction. I think we're going to get there." 

Shah echoed this sentiment, noting that while the industry still has plenty of room to grow in terms of interoperability, it has improved in the past five years.  

"For better or worse, we've had a coalescence of the major EHR vendors down to just a couple few, but that means that as long as those two are talking, you've got most of the United States," Shah added. 

In terms of next steps for improving interoperability, Shah reasoned that AI could contribute by synthesizing information from remote patient monitoring devices, smart rings or watches to provide clinicians with more useful data. 

"If I have to look at the device, I don't have that bandwidth. But if it's part of an overall picture and it's helping me detect something that's happening, that seems meaningful. And that kind of interoperability is, I think, really the next peak to work toward," he said. 

EHR as an extension of the care team 

Overall, providers want EHRs to make their jobs easier, not harder. Patient-centered EHR systems should enhance patient care and allow providers to maximize time with their patients. 

"In an ideal world, EHRs would be frictionless,” Shah said.  

The EHR would know why the patient is there, present relevant information and work in tandem with clinicians to translate the information into valuable insights.  

“Then, you're using your skills to create plans and figure out how to bring humanity into it, not to do things that a computer can do better,” he added. 

Advancements in AI have already contributed greatly to improved EHR satisfaction, but providers say there is still room to grow to make EHRs a true partner in care delivery. 

"My bottom line is that if we get this right, EHRs really will transition from being the source of frustration to becoming a true extension of the care team, which I think is a really exciting opportunity," Heaton stated.  

"They have the opportunity to reduce burnout, to improve outcomes and to strengthen that patient-physician relationship rather than straining it. And I think that's the direction all of us are working. I think a lot of us just wish we could work a little faster." 

Jill Hughes has covered health tech news since 2021.