05-18-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

Why patients are falling through the cracks

Half a billion records flow through healthcare systems, but too often they sit idle.

[Photo: Getty Images]

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Have you been there? A medical emergency lands you in the ER only to be discharged with a stack of papers, prescriptions to fill, and instructions for your doctor. Will those papers make it to your next appointment? Will you be able to answer, “What diagnosis did the ER give? How many weeks are you supposed to take this RX?” It depends on what kind of fog you were in when you left.

There must be a better way.

Healthcare’s most dangerous moments often do not happen in the emergency room, but when the patient moves from one system to another—from hospital to home or from specialist to primary care. In transitions, communication breaks down easily, plans fall apart, and information that should (and needs to) follow a patient doesn’t.The result: There are no triggers for critical follow-up appointments, physicians lack notifications that a patient has new medications, and rehabilitation centers lack insight into care plans. At best, a patient’s records are faxed days later; more likely, they remain siloed and are of no use........

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