Healthcare organizations can use EHR data to identify potentially eligible clinical trial participants, organize screening workflows, and make recruitment more targeted. Rather than asking research teams to manually review every patient record, an EHR-based approach can help narrow a large population to patients who may meet a study’s initial criteria.

EHR recruitment can also make research opportunities more relevant to patients. A person with an established relationship with a healthcare provider may be more receptive to a trial than someone encountering a study through a general advertisement.

Still, an EHR is not a complete recruitment strategy. Data may be incomplete or outdated, and some studies require highly specific populations that a health system cannot reach on its own. A thoughtful recruitment process combines EHR capabilities with appropriate outreach and external recruitment resources.

Define Eligibility Criteria Before Searching

Start by translating the study protocol into criteria that can be identified in the EHR. Researchers may search for diagnoses, medications, laboratory results, procedures, age ranges, or other relevant characteristics.

Clear criteria help research teams distinguish between an initial candidate list and patients who actually qualify. EHR data can identify potential participants, but additional screening is generally needed to confirm eligibility according to the full study protocol.

Researchers should also determine which criteria are difficult to capture electronically. Lifestyle factors, symptom severity, willingness to participate, and certain aspects of medical history may require direct conversations or additional review.

Build A Practical Screening Workflow

Finding potentially eligible patients is only one part of the process. Research teams also need a consistent workflow for reviewing records, documenting screening decisions, and determining who is responsible for the next step.

A useful process might move from automated identification to human review before any patient outreach occurs. Teams can prioritize candidates based on the study’s requirements while avoiding unnecessary contact with patients who clearly do not qualify.

Key workflow considerations include:

• Eligibility screening
• Record review
• Research team assignment
• Outreach documentation
• Follow-up tracking

Organizing these steps in advance can reduce duplication and make recruitment easier to manage as enrollment progresses.

Know Where EHR Recruitment Falls Short

EHR data can be particularly useful when a health system has a large patient population that closely matches the study’s eligibility criteria. However, rare diseases, highly specialized conditions, or narrow demographic requirements can make it difficult to find enough potential participants within one system.

Data quality can create another limitation. A patient’s record may not contain every relevant diagnosis, medication, treatment history, or characteristic needed to determine eligibility.

External recruitment can help fill those gaps. Research teams looking beyond their own EHR can use patient recruitment resources to connect with qualified patients who may be appropriate for specific studies. Rare Patient Voice’s researcher resources can provide an additional avenue for reaching patient populations that may be difficult to identify through a single healthcare system.

Protect Patient Privacy During Outreach

EHR recruitment requires careful attention to privacy and applicable research requirements. Having access to patient information for clinical care does not automatically mean every piece of information can be used for research recruitment in any manner.

Research teams should establish appropriate processes for identifying candidates and contacting them. Institutional policies, study requirements, consent considerations, and applicable privacy rules should all be reviewed before outreach begins.

Communication should also be clear and respectful. Patients should understand why they are being contacted and how the research opportunity relates to their circumstances without feeling pressured to participate.

Combine EHR Data With Human Review

Automation can make recruitment more efficient, but clinical judgment remains important. A search query may identify hundreds of potential candidates, yet only a portion may ultimately meet the study criteria after a researcher reviews the relevant records.

Human review can also catch context that structured EHR fields miss. A diagnosis code, for example, may not provide enough information about current disease status or whether a patient is an appropriate candidate for a particular study.

The strongest approach treats EHR data as a starting point rather than a final answer. Combining electronic screening with appropriate staff review can improve efficiency without losing the nuance required for clinical research.

Measure Recruitment Performance

Once the workflow is running, research teams should evaluate where candidates are being lost. Tracking the progression from initial EHR identification to screening and enrollment can reveal whether eligibility criteria are too broad, outreach is ineffective, or the available patient population is simply too small.

Useful metrics can include the number of potential candidates identified, records reviewed, patients contacted, screening appointments completed, and participants ultimately enrolled. Comparing those numbers over time can help teams adjust recruitment strategies while a study is still active.

EHR-based recruitment can be a powerful tool when used thoughtfully. By combining structured data, human review, privacy-conscious outreach, and external recruitment when necessary, research teams can build a more targeted process for finding participants without relying on any single recruitment channel.