5 key stakeholders in your EHR selection

When selecting an EHR system for your practice, you need a clear strategy for how the project will add value to your organization’s healthcare mission. That strategy should be grounded in a realistic assessment of current challenges and opportunities, and informed by the people most affected: your stakeholders.

Stakeholders in healthcare bring critical insights into workflows, finances, patient experience, and technical feasibility. Engaging them early not only improves adoption but also helps avoid common barriers to EHR implementation such as interoperability issues, workflow mismatches, and poor executive sponsorship.

This article covers the five most influential stakeholder groups in EHR selection, while also highlighting the wider set of stakeholders in EHR implementation, and offering practical tools to identify and engage them.

1. Clinicians

Clinicians are at the front line of care delivery. Physicians, nurses, and allied health staff shape the daily workflows that an EHR must support. Physicians as stakeholders in healthcare are especially influential because their documentation and ordering practices affect safety, billing, and overall efficiency

Identify your EHR stakeholders and select the system that suits their needs with this EHR selection checklist

Involve clinicians from different specialties early. Have them test real-world workflows, from documentation and order entry to decision support.

Include at least one clinician on the selection team and act on their feedback. This ensures that the chosen system truly supports patient care and avoids creating unnecessary burdens.

2. Office manager and office staff

Office staff manage registration, scheduling, and patient flow. They know where bottlenecks occur and how administrative tasks impact patient experience. An EHR should make these responsibilities easier by streamlining registration, reducing duplicate data entry, and automating reminders.

A practical test is to have office staff simulate a full day of check-ins and appointment scheduling on a demo system. This demonstrates whether the EHR makes different staff members’ work easier or creates new obstacles.

3. Billing team and revenue cycle staff

The billing department ensures the practice gets paid. A well-chosen EHR must integrate smoothly with billing systems to support claims processing, denial management, and reconciliation.

The reimbursement process involves multiple stakeholders, including coders, billers, revenue cycle managers, clearinghouses, and payer relations staff. Invite them into demos and ask them to process real claim scenarios to ensure the system supports reimbursement workflows effectively.

4. Board members and administration

Board members and executives set financial and strategic priorities. Their buy-in is essential for funding, governance, and long-term adoption. Early involvement helps align ROI expectations with reality, prevents delays, and ensures that leadership remains invested throughout the project.

A strong business case, supported by early stakeholder input, increases the likelihood of successful implementation.

5. Marketing team

Marketing may not be the first group you think of, but their role is growing. Patient-facing features such as online portals, appointment reminders, and secure messaging improve engagement and satisfaction. These features also provide opportunities for promoting access and reinforcing patient loyalty.

By working with marketing, you can make sure patient-facing workflows are usable and that portal adoption campaigns are effective. Research consistently links higher patient engagement to better outcomes and reduced readmissions, making this an area of strategic value.

Patients as stakeholders

Patients are often overlooked in EHR selection, yet they are direct users of portals, reminders, and communication tools. Involving patient representatives or advocates in testing ensures that features are accessible, understandable, and aligned with real needs.

How EHR makes different staff members' work easier

• Clinicians: faster charting with templates and order sets.
• Office staff: streamlined scheduling and reduced manual entry.
• Billing staff: integrated claim editing and denial tracking.
• IT staff: predictable upgrades and vendor support.
• Marketing: analytics on portal use and patient engagement.