Clinicians largely satisfied with EHRs, but there is room for improvement

While most clinicians report a strong EHR experience, indicating overall satisfaction, there are several ways leadership can further improve it, according to a new KLAS report. Areas for improvement include providing accessible, ongoing training and enabling clinician participation in EHR governance.

The research was conducted by KLAS Arch Collaborative, a group of healthcare organizations that aim to improve the EHR experience through standardized surveys and benchmarking. The report includes responses from more than 121,000 clinicians across 92 organizations from May 2025 to May 2026.

Of the clinicians surveyed, 22% reported a net EHR experience score that put their organization at the highest level of EHR satisfaction -- Level 6 or elite -- as measured by the collaborative. However, nurses are more likely to report a basic or struggling EHR experience compared with clinicians. Only 12% of nurses gave their EHR experience a net score that put their organizations at a Level 6.

EHRs' external integration capabilities and efficiency were key differentiators between organizations in the elite and basic levels. A majority of physicians (62%) and nurses (71%) in Level 6 organizations reported being satisfied with their EHRs' external integration capabilities, compared with physicians (39%) and nurses (47%) in Level 1-3 organizations. Similarly, most physicians (68%) and nurses (81%) in Level 6 organizations were satisfied with the efficiency of their EHRs, compared with 36% of physicians and 49% of nurses in Level 1-3 organizations.

Both physicians and nurses highlighted several improvements in EHR experience in the past year. These include enhancements to clinical documentation, such as the use of ambient AI, reduced duplicate charting and better templates. They also reported improved usability and navigation, including fewer clicks, shortcuts and quick orders.

The clinicians surveyed also highlighted various areas of improvement. They noted that training should not occur on the same day or in the same week, but rather be spaced over 90 days, and that when EHR upgrades occur, leadership should set clear expectations and overcommunicate.

Further, clinicians stated that organizations should have a process for requesting fixes and optimizations that includes a clear feedback loop. Clinicians should also have a representative from their department in EHR decision-making.

From EHR vendors, clinicians want greater efficiency, more intuitive usability and faster system response time.

Further, the report offered recommendations for organizations seeking to improve their EHR satisfaction scores and move from struggling/basic to moderate/strong. Reducing inefficiencies, such as click-heavy workflows and duplicative documentation, improving response times and integrating data from various internal and external sources can help organizations improve clinicians' satisfaction with the EHR.

For organizations that want to move from moderate/strong to elite, the report suggested enhancing EHR education with accessible training and resources in addition to improving efficiency and external integration capabilities.

Anuja Vaidya has covered the healthcare industry since 2012. She currently covers healthcare IT and innovation, including artificial intelligence, digital healthcare, EHRs and interoperability.