As Healthcare organizations continue to shift to digital documentation, care teams are managing an influx of unorganized and complex sets of patient data, forcing them to reevaluate how effectively their current systems meet evolving digital demands.
Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have been transformative for the Healthcare industry, allowing organizations to shift from paper-based documentation to centralized digital systems that support more consistent workflows, reduce documentation errors and provide timely access to critical patient information.
As Healthcare organizations and patients transition to electronic systems, the integration of modern EHR technology has become essential to sustaining clinical and administrative workflows.
To assess how technology is shaping Healthcare operations, CHIME and Carahsoft Technology Corp., The Trusted IT Solutions Provider for the Healthcare Industry™, surveyed EHR system users across various care environments, finding that nearly every Healthcare organization in the U.S. uses an EHR system and that many are prioritizing optimizing their EHR investments by integrating modern technologies that strengthen system performance and overall workflows.
Understanding the EHR Landscape Through Survey
In 2009, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services passed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which encouraged the meaningful adoption of Healthcare technology. The law supported nationwide EHR implementation to reduce documentation errors and streamline clinical and administrative processes. Since then, technology has significantly advanced, leaving many Healthcare organizations with legacy EHR systems.
Key Survey Findings
• 36 percent of respondents report satisfaction with their current systems
• 44 percent are actively exploring ways to optimize EHR performance
• 4 percent are in an active transition to a new system
The survey results indicate that most organizations prefer targeted enhancements rather than complete system replacements. This shift toward incremental improvement highlights a growing need for technologies that can extend the capabilities of existing EHR platforms. This creates a tremendous opportunity for industry partners and healthcare technology to make a real difference for care teams and patients nationwide.
What Healthcare Organizations Value Most
Healthcare organizations prioritize features that support daily operations and drive user adoption. Survey respondents ranked user experience and workflow productivity as their top considerations, emphasizing that even advanced systems cannot deliver value if clinicians and staff find them difficult to use.
Survey results showed that Healthcare professionals rank customizability (15.4 percent) and training support (15.2 percent) as their highest EHR priorities, followed by AI capabilities at 11.8 percent. Additional priorities included:
- Customer-facing experience (12.0 percent)
- Security (9.6 percent)
- Cost efficiency (9.1 percent)
- Interoperability (8.5 percent)
- Easy integration (8.2 percent)
- User experience (6.3 percent)
- Workflow productivity (4.0 percent)
While cost and security remain essential requirements, they are no longer the primary factors influencing EHR decisions. Healthcare organizations expect this as standard and are placing greater emphasis on usability and adaptability
Unlocking Potential Through Interoperability
Interoperability emerged as a key priority in the survey, with healthcare organizations seeking ways to integrate new technologies into their existing EHR systems. The ability to share patient data across systems and care settings is essential for improving coordination and supporting timely clinical decisions.
Through Carahsoft’s Healthcare Technology portfolio, partners like Google Cloud, Databricks and Broadcom help organizations integrate modern technology solutions into their existing EHR systems. These solutions enable systems to communicate effectively, supporting secure data exchange, analytics and care coordination without requiring full EHR replacement.
How AI Fits into Today’s EHR Environments
· Nearly 80 percent of Healthcare organizations use AI in their EHR systems
· 38.3 percent use natural language processing and dictation tools to reduce documentation workload
· Robotic process automation and large language models each account for 19.1 percent of use
As Healthcare teams turn to AI to improve efficiency, many organizations are adopting tools that support faster and more accurate clinical documentation. Solutions available through Carahsoft’s AI and Healthcare portfolios help providers streamline note taking and reduce administrative workload. Partners such as Google Cloud and Bamboo Health use natural language processing to capture patient conversations and generate structured clinical notes, cutting documentation time and improving accuracy.
Customization For Administrative Excellence
Modern Healthcare organizations are rejecting one-size-fits-all approaches and instead adopting technology that can be tailored to their specific workflows. The survey found that 30 percent of respondents ranked customizability and training support as top priorities, indicating that successful technology adoption depends on tools that can adjust to each organization’s operational needs.
Solutions available through partners like VisualVault and Salesforce support administrative efficiency through automation, intuitive interfaces and seamless integrations. These capabilities help reduce manual workloads and allow Healthcare teams to focus more time on patient care.
Security: A Multi-Layered Imperative
Survey results show that 82 percent of Healthcare organizations use third-party cybersecurity or backup solutions in addition to their EHR’s native protections. This reflects the need for layered security approaches that address a range of threats and operational risks. Organizations can meet these needs through solutions available in Carahsoft’s cybersecurity and Healthcare portfolios.
Industry leading partners like Cohesity, Broadcom and Datadog support Zero Trust architecture and NIST-aligned frameworks that strengthen data protection and recovery capabilities. These solutions integrate with existing EHR environments to provide immutable backups, disaster recovery, continuous monitoring and threat detection.
Additionally, SmartCareTM, Streamline Healthcare’s platform, also supports security needs through its cloud-based and Software as a Service deployment options, offering a single, web-based system that maintains current security standards and certifications.
Featured Solutions: Innovation in Action
As The Trusted IT Solutions Provider for the Healthcare Industry™, Carahsoft offers a robust portfolio of healthcare technology solutions that make positive changes in the quality, safety and effectiveness of healthcare delivery systems. Carahsoft works with a range of Healthcare technology partners that support EHR optimization across clinical and administrative environments.
FusionEHR: Integrated Care Across Specialties
Fusion Health’s premier EHR, FusionEHR, delivers integrated features ideal for medical, behavioral health, dental and optometry services, while adhering to industry requirements from NCCHC, ACA and PBNDS. The platform offers integrated user experience for customers, supporting configurable workflows and specialty applications that help organizations tailor documentation and clinical processes to their needs.
TechCare GO: Specialized Correctional Healthcare
Naphcare’s TechCare GO extends the TechCare EHR platform into a browser-based tool designed for correctional Healthcare. It supports medication administration and clinical documentation in both connected and offline environments, enabling consistent care in various settings.
Carahsoft at Upcoming Healthcare Events
Explore the latest in healthcare cybersecurity at HIMSS26 to better understand how organizations are protecting electronic health information across modern EHR environments.
Join industry leaders at ViVE 2026 to dive into the AI and cybersecurity innovations shaping next-generation EHR optimization and digital health transformation.
Ready To Optimize Your EHR System?
As EHR systems evolve from documentation tools to comprehensive care enablement platforms, organizations that strategically leverage partnerships and integrations will unlock their systems’ full potential, delivering exception, patient coordinated care.
Visit Carahsoft’s Healthcare Technology portfolio to explore EHR solutions and enhancement technologies.
Get in touch with the Healthcare team at Carahsoft to discuss which EHR solution is best for you; or download Carahsoft’s Healthcare Buyer’s Guide to explore solutions that may align with your operational and clinical needs.
