Incorporating the patient’s voice into electronic health records through patient-reported outcomes as the “review of systems”

Owing to lack of standardization for eliciting patient symptoms, the limited time available during clinical encounters, and the often-competing priorities of patients and providers, providers may not appreciate the full spectrum of the patient's symptom experience. Using electronically collected patient-reported outcomes to capture the review of system outside of the clinic visit may not only improve the efficiency, completeness, and accuracy of data collection for the review of system, but also provide the opportunity to operationalize incorporating the patient's voice into the electronic health record. While the necessary technology is already available, multiple stakeholders, including electronic health record vendors, clinicians, researchers, and professional societies, need to align their interests before this can become a widespread reality.