Epic portal messages are up 153% since 2020, and in Q1 2025, about 30% of active Epic patients sent a portal or health app message to a clinician. And this isn’t just in Epic systems. Becker’s reported that 29% of U.S. adults now use AI tools for health information monthly, nearly doubling from 17% in June 2024. That says patients are trying to get answers wherever they can, because the healthcare system itself is hard to navigate.
Healthcare IT News is pointing to the next AI challenge as “connecting the workflow,” especially in areas like referrals, prior authorization, claims, payer compliance, and coordination — all processes that depend on gathering information from multiple sources. And CMS continues to push interoperability and prior authorization modernization, emphasizing better health information exchange and access to records for patients, providers, and payers. But key API requirements are still largely aimed at 2027.
More Portals. More Messages. Still An Incomplete Medical Record
Healthcare has never had more digital tools. Apps, APIs, portals, and automation are now part of everyday care. And yet, one of healthcare’s most basic problems remains unresolved: A patient’s complete medical history is still not available in one place, in a format a physician can quickly use at the point of care. In fact, during a check up this week with my cardiologist, he asked me to pull up the data on my phone, so he could see my latest test results. This was in the same healthcare organization as my PCP. Patients are surrounded by fragments of their health story. One provider may use one EHR. A specialist may use another. Lab results may live in a separate portal. Imaging may be stored somewhere else. Hospital records may not be connected to the primary care office. The result is a system with more digital activity, but not necessarily more clarity.
Providers are Absorbing More Digital Work
When a provider has to ask the patient for their latest test results, then ask if they can share them via their mobile phone, there is a huge disconnect. Luckily, I knew how to do this. But for others, the elderly, and those compromised by reactive care needs, this would be impossible. The provider thanked me for bringing this up, because it changed the plan. More digital activity does not automatically mean better access to the full patient story. There are still gaps. And these gaps require hours of additional work after clinic-time and office visits, just to double check test results, and ensure that the right information was provied for the right patient at the right time. Doctors should not have to be data collectors. This is what is causing burnout, suicides, and mental health issues for the healthcare ecosystem. Portal messages, EHR documentation, prior authorization, referrals, and workflows are all data-dependent.
Where MedKaz® Fits
MedKaz gives patients a portable, patient-owned record from all providers, searchable by clinicians, without requiring a new EHR or workflow disruption. One record, available at every visit, with all providers of care. If my cardiologist was using it, he would just search for “test results,” like a Google search, and the information would be available within seconds. Not 15 minutes of additional office time.Instead of scrolling through pages of disconnected documents, physicians can search for the information they need, whether it is a medication, allergy, diagnosis, lab result, imaging report, surgery, or specialist note. Healthcare does not need more digital noise. It needs usable information.
The future of healthcare should be fast access to the complete patient story, exactly when care is happening. That is the point of care. And that is where MedKaz belongs.
Find out more about how MedKaz provides complete information at the point of care. For less than one cup of specialty coffee each month, you can ensure that your complete record follows you to every appointment, regardless of where you are in the world. That’s what healthcare should be. https://medkaz.com/
