Between the rise in patient consumerism and increasing pressures on providers, the push to expand accessibility and improve patient outcomes often forces provider organizations to make difficult choices. Should they overburden already strained clinical staff, double down on their reliance on Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), or invest in an array of disparate point solutions?
Unfortunately, these options often overlook a critical aspect: provider experience and well-being. This is particularly concerning given the rising rates of burnout among clinical staff. With the increasing imbalance between clinical supply and patient demand, physicians cannot be the sole solution for both care delivery and administrative work.
Medscape reports that providers cite the following factors as key contributors to burnout:
- 62% point to excessive bureaucratic tasks (such as charting and paperwork)
- 41% highlight working too many hours
- 24% blame the increasing computerization of practice
Elephant in the Room: Point Solutions vs the EMR
A JAMA study found that despite the U.S. having 33% more physicians in 2021 than in 2001, weekly work hours rose by 7% (figure A). Interestingly, the rise in physician work hours also coincides with an accelerated increase in EMR adoption, which started in 2011 (figure C).
Other studies have found an inverse correlation between healthcare technology investment and physician productivity. According to Straits Research, the global EHR market size was valued at $29,395 billion in 2021 and is estimated to reach $47,600 billion by 2030 (figure B). Meanwhile, McKinsey and Company reports a 13% decline in healthcare productivity (figure E). With providers spending 5.5 hours in the EHR for every 8 patient scheduled hours, it currently takes more people every year to deliver care.
Painful Patient Experiences & Disjointed Provider Workflows
EMRs were initially designed for revenue cycle management, not for enhancing patient experiences or streamlining workflows. Unfortunately, modern patient portals are built to serve existing patients without a focus on patient experience or acquisition. They are challenging to navigate for those with access and lack the ability to attract new patients. This inherently forces a bifurcated path—one that serves patients and another for the community at large. With EMRs, it simply isn't possible to provide a unified experience.
Provider organizations turned to a fragmented array of health technology solutions—point solutions—to address specific gaps, further fragmenting care experiences. Healthcare organizations have purchased many point solutions to resolve specific needs and often end up with duplicate solutions.
This fragmented approach complicates the care delivery process and undermines the patient experience. Despite the significant investment in EMRs and point solutions, these systems often fail to create a seamless and satisfying patient journey. This gap becomes a critical issue because patient satisfaction is increasingly recognized as a key indicator of clinical quality.
Recognizing the importance of both patient and provider satisfaction, Fabric prioritizes the overall care experience, achieving a remarkable patient Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 64, on par with leading consumer brands like Amazon and Starbucks—while traditional EMRs struggle with an NPS of -65.
Technology Integration is More Critical Than Ever
While EMRs remain a crucial investment for healthcare providers, particularly for revenue cycle management, their integration across multiple vendors is often a complex, time-consuming, and resource-intensive process. This fragmented approach has led to disjointed workflows for both patients and providers, making the overall experience cumbersome and inefficient.
In 2023, these challenges were compounded by a less favorable funding environment for startups, forcing many to downsize, sell, or shut down entirely. Simultaneously, health systems faced eroding margins—some even dipping into the negative—necessitating further vendor consolidation and creating additional change management hurdles. As a result, the healthcare industry is now grappling with the urgent need for more streamlined, effective technology integration solutions.
Fabric's Approach: A Unified Care Experience through End-to-End Care Enablement
At Fabric, we're taking an alternative approach that prioritizes a unified care experience through end-to-end care enablement. When we talk about care enablement, we mean empowering healthcare workers with technology that enables them to move faster, work smarter, and deliver better care across the entire patient journey. For a more detailed description, check out our blog, What is Care Enablement?
This approach is essential for creating clinical capacity, improving patient outcomes, and enhancing the overall healthcare experience. By significantly reducing administrative burdens on providers, Fabric’s end-to-end system enables them to focus more on patient care.
An end-to-end care enablement system does not replace your existing EMR. Instead, it complements and enhances it to create clinical capacity, improve patient outcomes, maximize loyalty, and improve your bottom line. Integrating seamlessly with your existing systems addresses the limitations of EMRs and point solutions, offering a cohesive experience for new and existing patients. This system automates and streamlines downstream workflows, effectively tackling one of healthcare's biggest challenges: clinical capacity.
We’re all on a shared mission to deliver exceptional care to every patient. By integrating and consolidating technology through an end-to-end care enablement system, we are not just optimizing workflows and improving efficiency—we are empowering healthcare professionals to focus on what matters most: delivering compassionate, high-quality care. This unified approach to care delivery brings us one step closer to a healthcare environment where every patient receives the care they need, and every provider has the resources to make it happen.
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