In healthcare, every minute matters—not just for urgent care, but for every patient walking through your doors. Research shows that poorly optimized Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems significantly contribute to long wait times. According to an aggregated review of multiple studies, including those published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA), patient wait times can increase by up to 47%

Moreover, a 2016 time-motion study in Annals of Internal Medicine (Sinsky et al.) found that physicians spend an average of 49.2% of their time on EHR and desk work—often translating to about 16 minutes per patient interaction. This isn't just a statistic; it’s a direct impact on the people seeking care at your clinic.

At Becloud, we understand that behind every wait time is a real person—an anxious patient, a parent waiting to hear about a child’s test results, or an elderly patient who deserves compassionate care without the added stress of long waits. That’s why we partner with your EHR vendor to tackle the technical heavy lifting, so you and your staff can do what you do best: provide exceptional patient care.

The Emotional Toll of Slow EHR Systems

Patient Frustration & Anxiety

According to recent Press Ganey Patient Experience research (2023), 20% of patients have left a healthcare provider due to excessive wait times, with 63% reporting increased anxiety during extended waits. A 15-minute appointment can quickly turn into a 30-minute ordeal if your EHR is slow. Every extra second that patients spend waiting can heighten anxiety, diminish trust, and reduce satisfaction.

Staff Burnout

A Mayo Clinic Proceedings study revealed that high percentages of physicians cite EHR-related stress as a major contributor to burnout. In fact, doctors, nurses, and administrative staff can spend nearly two hours on EHR tasks for every hour of direct patient care—a ratio that contributes to decreased job satisfaction and potentially compromised care quality. This stress often spills into patient interactions, making the clinic environment feel tense.

Lost Human Connection

In a further nod to the time-motion study by Sinsky et al. in Annals of Internal Medicine, physicians spend only 27% of their time in direct face-to-face patient care, while nearly half is devoted to EHR tasks. When providers are preoccupied with troubleshooting system delays, they lose precious time connecting with patients—a critical element for holistic care and patient satisfaction.

Our Recent Success Story

We recently helped a clinic that was experiencing long wait times and strained patient relationships due to chronic EHR slowdowns. By collaborating with their EHR vendor, our team at Becloud stepped in and tackled the root causes:

Moving the Application to Faster Storage

• Problem: The EHR was stuck on aging, underperforming storage that couldn’t handle peak loads. Average page load time was 8.3 seconds.
• Solution: We migrated their EHR application to high-speed storage, reducing load times to 2.1 seconds—a 75% improvement. This translated to 40% faster patient check-ins and noticeably smoother workflows.

Defragmenting the Database

• Problem: Over time, the database grew fragmented, causing searches, updates, and data retrieval to crawl. Query response times averaged 12 seconds, and the practice administrator could only run critical reports after hours—sometimes taking up to an hour to complete.
• Solution: We defragmented the database to reorganize patient data, slashing query times to 3 seconds. Staff saved an average of 52 minutes per day on data retrieval tasks. The practice administrator can now run business reports during normal hours without affecting system performance—report generation times shrank from an hour to just minutes.

Because of these optimizations, the clinic saw:

• 43% reduction in patient wait times
• 27% increase in patient satisfaction scores
• 95% reduction in report generation time
• Improved staff morale, as everyone finally felt they had the time to provide compassionate, personalized care

Why Partner with Becloud?

We Keep You Patient-Focused

Your patients come to you at their most vulnerable moments. You shouldn’t be worrying about whether your servers can handle today’s appointments. Becloud works directly with your EHR vendor to manage the technology, allowing you to focus on delivering the best possible care.

Expertise That Gets Results

From optimizing servers to configuring networks and databases, our deep experience in healthcare IT allows us to pinpoint performance bottlenecks and implement solutions that have an immediate impact on patient experience.

A True Partnership

We understand the emotional investment you have in your patients. We view ourselves as an extension of your clinic’s team, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you to ensure your technology supports your mission of healing and compassion.

Proactive Monitoring & Maintenance

Waiting for something to break before taking action can lead to more downtime and longer patient waits. We continuously monitor your systems, so we can fix issues before they affect your clinic’s operations.

Ready to Reduce Patient Wait Times?

According to the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Operational Performance Reports, optimized EHR systems can help practices see up to 15% more patients per day while maintaining high satisfaction scores. The patients in your waiting room deserve better than frustration and delay. With Becloud as your managed service provider, you can trust that your EHR technology will run smoothly, letting you and your staff devote full attention to each patient’s needs.

Fix EHRs that are bogged down by sluggish Internet, outdated servers, or unoptimized databases. Let’s work together to make long wait times a thing of the past. Contact us today to see how we can partner with you and your EHR vendor to provide faster, more reliable service—because in healthcare, every moment of personal connection counts.