Why Healthcare Needs a True Health Vault: Fixing Data Fragmentation for Clinicians and Patients

The data exists. The systems exist. But somehow, the people who need it most—patients and clinicians—still can’t access the full picture.

The Problem Isn’t a Lack of Data—It’s the Lack of Access

Every day, patients and clinicians show up for care with the right intentions—but the wrong tools. Data exists, but it’s scattered across systems, portals, and PDFs. And too often, no one—not the patient, not the provider—can access the full picture in the moment that matters.

Just recently, I had a routine hospital procedure. My heart rate is typically low (they tell me that means I'm just super healthy...probably), but on this day it was really low.  The clinical team wanted to check my historical EKGs before moving forward.

The problem?  They couldn’t find them.

The tests had been done at another facility, and despite my having enabled sharing between the two, the results still weren't visible.  Sitting there, waiting to go in for my procedure, I logged into my own patient portal, saw that the EKGs had been recorded… but I couldn’t acess the actual results. The system only confirmed that they existed. 

No one—me or the care team—could access the data in the moment we needed it most.  No one could use it to build a true historical picture of my health.

We hear and experience stories like this more and more.  Staff and patients scrambling to try and get insights to better inform and provide the best care possible.  

That’s the broken reality of health data today.

And it’s not rare. It’s normal.

The Hidden Cost of Disconnected Health Records

Health systems are overflowing with data—but the lack of unified access has created risk, friction, and real-world care delays.

• 44% of patients now manage health data across multiple health portals (JMIR).  For patients with chronic conditions, this number increases - one such patient told Nurse Advocates in 2021 that they were managing their health data across 21 different portals.  The burden is on patients to put the puzzle pieces together.

• Primary care physicians spend 5.9 hours daily on EHR tasks—nearly double their direct patient care time (2.7 hours).  Within the exam room, only 53% of time is dedicated to patient interaction, while 37% is devoted to navigating systems. (AFM)

• 97% of EHR data remains unseen during visits due to system overload and cognitive fatigue, potentially leading to critical missed insights (Visit Ready Healthcare). Information overload increases cognitive strain, with 30% of clinicians missing test results and 28% of EHR-related safety incidents stemming from overlooked alerts (JAMA).

• Duplicate patient records cost the U.S. healthcare system $6.7 billion annually due to denied claims and reconciliation efforts (CHE).  Who pays for that?  These costs show up in revenue loss for hospitals, higher insurance premiums and out of pocket expenses for patients, and increased taxes for everyone due to the impact on Medicare/Medicaid.

These aren’t edge cases. They’re the daily norm for practices across the country that collectively result in lower quality of care and exorbitant costs for organizations and patients.

Why the System Wasn’t Built for You

These statistics shouldn't be surprising if you understand the why and how behind the evolution of healthcare technology.  Electronic health record systems (EHRs) specifically weren’t designed for patient—or even really for clinicians. They were built for documentation and billing.

As explained on Acquired.fm's podcast, the history of EHRs is tightly linked to regulatory and financial requirements—not delivering better care or patient visibility. And while portals have expanded access and worked to build in some features and functionality to improve care, they still fall short of enabling real seamless and collaborative data sharing and insights. 

Even when the data is “there,” it’s not always viewable, portable, or clinically usable in context.  There are multiple ways to find and access the same information, likely due to customizations, making it confusing and chaotic to find information.

With new interoperability requirements going into effect thanks to the Cures Act, the time for change is now.

What a True Health Vault Should Do

The term “health vault” sounds powerful—but most existing tools still act like static filing cabinets. They store data, but they don’t make it useful and they don't connect across silos. What patients and clinicians need isn’t just storage—it’s intelligence, organization, and control.

A true health vault should:

• Centralize health data from across the ecosystem—lab results, PDFs, connected devices, past visit notes, and third-party exports—into a single, organized space.

• Contextualize & Personalize that data by linking symptoms, medications, goals, and trends —then summarize what matters most for upcoming visits or ongoing care

• Empower sharing by giving patients granular control over what to share, when, and with whom—whether it’s a specialist, caregiver, or primary care team

It should be more than a container. It should be a dynamic, intelligent layer that translates fragmented health information into shared understanding.

That’s the vault we’re building at Alcott.

How Alcott Is Solving This

At Alcott, we’re building the health vault patients and clinicians have been waiting for—one that actually works in the messy, fragmented world of real care.

• Patients can upload or connect health data from anywhere—labs, visit notes, PDFs, EHR records, even wearable exports.

• Our AI intelligently tags, organizes, and highlights the most important changes, trends, and clinical concerns - it knows you and what you care about, and it serves you up relevant insights - it doesn't make you dig.

• Clinicians receive a visit-ready summary—concise, context-rich, and co-designed with providers to support real-world workflows, not overwhelm them.

Everyone walks into the visit on the same page—with shared clarity, not chaos.

It’s not another EHR. It’s not just an app. It’s a lightweight, intelligent layer that makes your health data finally usable—designed with patients and clinicians.

Why This Matters Now

Healthcare is at a breaking point.  Clinicians are burned out. Patients are overwhelmed. Everyone is buried in noise.  The solution isn’t more data—it’s a better way to manage and use it.

When patients can’t access their own records—and when providers can’t use the data that already exists—it’s time to rethink what “digital health” should really mean.  We believe the answer is simple: shared understanding, powered by intelligent summaries and a unified vault.

Let’s stop asking clinicians and patients to work with the system.

Let’s build one that works for them.

If you’re a clinician, digital health leader, or care team member, we’d love to invite you to pilot Alcott and help us build what the current system forgot to.