We need to make better use of the health team and technology

If modern health care were a group project, most of us are still doing it like it’s 2006: one person “owns” the assignment,
everybody else is vaguely helpful, and the shared document is… three different versions of the same file named
FINAL_final_reallyFINAL. Meanwhile, patients are juggling appointments, refills, labs, insurance rules, and portal passwords
like they’re training for a circus act.

Here’s the good news: we already have most of what we need to fix this. The U.S. health system has talented care teams
(nurses, pharmacists, medical assistants, social workers, community health workers, behavioral health clinicians, care coordinators,
and more), plus a growing toolbox of technology (EHRs, patient portals, telehealth, remote patient monitoring, clinical decision support,
secure messaging, analytics, and interoperability frameworks). The problem isn’t a lack of resourcesit’s that we’re using them
like separate gadgets instead of a coordinated system.

This article breaks down what “better use” actually looks like: clearer team roles, smarter workflows, tech that reduces work instead of
creating it, and patient-centered communication that doesn’t burn out clinicians or leave patients confused.

Why this matters now (and not just because everyone’s tired)

Health care is facing a triple-whammy: more chronic disease, higher patient expectations for convenience, and a workforce under intense
time pressure. Secure messaging and portals have improved access, but message volume has also climbed, contributing to inbox overload and
after-hours work. When that “quick question” arrives as a paragraph-long medical decision request at 9:47 p.m., it’s not just a messageit’s
unpaid clinical work, documentation, and risk management bundled into one.

Add fragmentationspecialists, primary care, labs, imaging, pharmacies, community servicesand you get a system where patients routinely
serve as the “project manager” for their own care. That’s not empowering. That’s exhausting.

The solution is not “download one more app.” The solution is to make the health team and technology function like a real team:
shared goals, clear roles, tight handoffs, and tools that help everyone see the same game plan.

What a “health team” should mean in 2026

Team-based care isn’t a buzzwordit’s a practical way to match the right task to the right professional at the right time. In a well-designed
model, the physician or advanced practice clinician focuses on diagnosis and complex decisions, while the rest of the team handles the crucial
work that keeps care moving and patients supported.

Key roles that often get underused

• Registered nurses (RNs) and care managers: chronic disease coaching, symptom triage, care plan follow-up, transition-of-care calls.
• Pharmacists: medication reconciliation, adherence support, side effect troubleshooting, dose optimization, and education.
• Medical assistants (MAs): pre-visit planning, screening questionnaires, immunization checks, device setup for telehealth and RPM.
• Social workers and behavioral health clinicians: mental health screening and treatment, stress and coping support, crisis navigation, therapy connections.
• Community health workers (CHWs): culturally competent support, barrier-busting (transportation, food access, housing navigation), trust-building.
• Care coordinators and patient navigators: referrals, prior authorizations, scheduling, closing the loop after specialist visits.

When these roles are empowered, patients get faster answers, fewer dropped balls, and better continuity. Clinicians get breathing room to
practice at the top of their license. Everyone winsincluding the person who no longer has to play “phone tag” with three offices and one pharmacy.

Technology should be the team’s shared playbooknot a pile of extra chores

Health tech works best when it does three things well:
(1) creates a single source of truth,
(2) makes communication predictable and safe, and
(3) reduces friction for patients and staff.
If your “digital transformation” increases clicks, duplicates work, and sends 47 alerts that everyone ignores, that’s not innovationit’s glitter on paperwork.

Core tech building blocks that actually help

• EHR + shared care plan: a living plan that includes goals, meds, monitoring targets, and “who does what next.”
• Patient portal + secure messaging: great for refills, scheduling, education, and selected clinical questionsif triage is team-based.
• Telehealth (video/phone): ideal for follow-ups, behavioral health visits, medication check-ins, and chronic disease coaching.
• Remote patient monitoring (RPM): home BP cuffs, glucose data, weight tracking for heart failureuseful when paired with clear response protocols.
• Clinical decision support (CDS): reminders and guidelines that help teams act consistently (and don’t spam everyone).
• Interoperability + patient access: data should move across systems and into patient-facing apps securely and predictably.

Notice the repeated theme: tools only help when they connect people and workflows. Tech cannot replace a care teambut it can make a care team
dramatically more effective.

Six practical ways to make better use of the health team and technology

1) Start with a “who owns what” map (and make it visible)

Most inefficiency comes from ambiguity. When no one is explicitly responsible for refills, education, follow-up calls, or portal triage, it defaults to
whoever is most reachableoften the physicianwhether or not that’s the best use of clinical expertise.

A simple fix: build a responsibility map for common workflows (hypertension follow-up, diabetes labs, depression screening, asthma action plans).
Put it in the EHR workflow documentation and train it like it’s part of onboardingbecause it is.

2) Treat the inbox like a clinical unit (with triage, protocols, and protected time)

Secure messaging can improve access, but it can also create burnout if it becomes an endless stream of “urgent-ish” questions that interrupt visits all day.
The key is to build a triage system that routes messages to the right team member firstthen escalates only when needed.

• Use standing orders and protocols: nurses can handle routine symptom questions, vaccine scheduling, or home BP education with clear guardrails.
• Make message categories mandatory: refill, scheduling, symptom question, results questionso routing isn’t guesswork.
• Use templates that sound human: concise, warm, and specific (“Here’s what to do today, and here’s when to call us”).
• Schedule “asynchronous care blocks”: protected time for high-value inbox work (instead of squeezing it into lunch).

Bonus: when you standardize triage, you can measure itresponse times, message volume per clinician, escalation ratesand improve it like any other service line.

3) Build a hybrid care model that’s designed (not improvised)

Hybrid care means patients get the right visit type: in-person when a physical exam or procedure is needed, telehealth when it’s mainly conversation,
education, or medication adjustment.

What works well in hybrid models:

• Chronic disease follow-ups: shorter, more frequent touchpoints by nurse or pharmacistsupported by home data (BP, glucose, weight).
• Behavioral health integration: tele-therapy and check-ins reduce access barriers and missed appointments.
• Post-discharge check-ins: a nurse call or video visit within days of discharge can catch medication confusion early.

The secret sauce is protocol + escalation: teams need clear thresholds (“If average home BP is above X for Y days, route to clinician”).
Without that, RPM becomes “data streaming into the void,” which helps nobody.

4) Let pharmacists and technology tag-team medication adherence

Medication nonadherence is a major driver of poor outcomes and avoidable costs. Pharmacy-based interventionsespecially tailored supportcan improve adherence,
particularly for cardiovascular risk reduction. Add technology thoughtfully (refill reminders, portal education, medication lists in the app), and you get
a powerful combination: human coaching + convenient follow-through.

A practical example:

• Patient starts a new blood pressure medication.
• Pharmacist schedules a 10-minute check-in (telephonic or video) in 2 weeks.
• Patient logs home BP twice weekly via an RPM tool or portal form.
• Nurse reviews trends; pharmacist addresses side effects; clinician adjusts therapy if needed.

This is what “better use of the health team and technology” looks like: coordinated, efficient, and supportivewithout a single unnecessary office visit.

5) Use CHWs and social care navigationsupported by techto address real-life barriers

A care plan is only as good as a patient’s ability to follow it. Transportation problems, food insecurity, housing instability, language barriers,
and caregiving stress can derail even the best clinical plan.

Community health workers can bridge gaps and build trust, especially in communities experiencing disparities. Technology can help by documenting needs,
generating referrals, tracking whether resources were received, and flagging unresolved barriers for follow-up. It’s not glamorous work,
but it’s often the difference between “plan created” and “plan completed.”

6) Make interoperability and patient access part of the care strategy

Too much care still depends on fax machines and “Can you remember what your last lab was?” Patients increasingly expect their data to move with them,
and federal policy has pushed the industry toward patient access and standardized APIs.

Here’s why this matters for teams:

• Fewer duplicate tests: when records flow, teams don’t repeat work just to get information.
• Safer transitions: medications and discharge summaries can be available faster across settings.
• Better patient engagement: when patients can access their electronic health information, they can participate more actively.

The goal isn’t “more data.” It’s the right data, at the right time, in the right placewithout heroic effort.

Common pitfalls (and how to avoid them without throwing your laptop into a lake)

Data overload and alert fatigue

If everyone gets every alert, nobody reads alerts. Define thresholds, limit notifications, and assign ownership. If home readings
are being collected, someone must be accountable for reviewing themand patients must know what happens next (and what doesn’t).

Digital divide

Not every patient has broadband, a smartphone, or comfort with apps. Offer options: phone visits, text reminders, printed after-visit summaries,
language-accessible education, and CHW support. “Digital-first” should never mean “digital-only.”

Inbox inequity and response disparities

Messaging systems can unintentionally amplify disparities if response patterns differ by race, language, or socioeconomic status. Teams should monitor
response times and escalation pathways and ensure that triage protocols are consistent and equitable.

Privacy, security, and trust

Patients need to know how data is used, who sees it, and how consent worksespecially for sensitive information. Strong security practices,
transparent communication, and clear policies are essential for sustained engagement.

What to measure: outcomes, experience, workload, and equity

If you want this strategy to stick, measure what mattersthen celebrate improvements so the team sees the point of the effort.

Patient outcomes

• Blood pressure control rates
• A1C improvement for diabetes
• Hospital readmissions and ED utilization
• Medication adherence proxies (refill gaps, self-reported adherence)

Patient experience

• Time to response for questions
• Appointment access (days to next available)
• Portal usability feedback and opt-out reasons

Team experience and sustainability

• After-hours EHR time
• Message volume per clinician (and distribution across the team)
• Burnout indicators and retention

Equity

• Differences in response times by language, race/ethnicity, age, and insurance type
• Telehealth completion rates and barriers
• Follow-through on social needs referrals

The point of measurement is improvement, not punishment. If the data reveals bottlenecks, it’s an invitation to redesign workflowsoften by shifting work to
the appropriate team member and using technology as support, not a substitute.

Conclusion: better care is a design problemand we can design it

We don’t need to invent a brand-new health system to make a meaningful difference. We need to use what we already haveour health teams and our technology
in a smarter, more coordinated way. That means:
building team-based workflows, protecting clinicians from inbox chaos, making hybrid care intentional, using pharmacists and CHWs strategically,
and pushing data to flow where it’s needed.

In the end, the best health tech outcome isn’t “more features.” It’s fewer dropped balls, fewer duplicated steps, more clarity, more trust, and more time
spent on care that only humans can deliver. (Also fewer passwords. Please. For everyone.)

Experience-based add-on: what this looks like in real life (three on-the-ground snapshots)

The phrase “make better use of the health team and technology” can sound abstractlike something you’d see on a motivational poster in a break room.
So here are three realistic snapshots drawn from common care patterns in U.S. clinics and health systems (composite examples, de-identified).
They show how small operational choiceswho responds, how data flows, and when the team touches the patientcan change outcomes and workload.

Snapshot 1: Hypertension control without the monthly “BP panic visit”

A primary care clinic notices a familiar cycle: patients’ blood pressure is high in the office, they get a medication change, then they disappear for months.
When they finally return, the numbers are still highand the team is back at square one. The clinic shifts to a hybrid model:
patients with uncontrolled blood pressure get a validated home cuff and two quick touchpoints instead of one long visit.

The medical assistant helps the patient set up logging (portal form or a simple phone-based workflow), confirms cuff technique, and enters home targets
into the shared care plan. A nurse reviews home readings weekly using a simple threshold rule. If readings are trending high, the nurse sends coaching:
timing meds, reducing salty “surprise foods,” and checking for missed doses. A pharmacist does a short tele-visit to troubleshoot side effects and simplify
the medication schedule. The clinician only steps in when titration is needed.

The patient feels supported without feeling stalked. The team avoids guessing based on one anxious office reading. And the clinic’s win is quiet but real:
fewer urgent visits, fewer “I stopped it because it made me dizzy” surprises, and more controlled blood pressure over time.

Snapshot 2: Diabetes care that doesn’t rely on willpower alone

A patient with type 2 diabetes is trying hard but keeps missing labs and forgetting refill dates. The clinic used to handle this with periodic reminders
(often buried under dozens of other messages). Now they redesign the workflow: the care coordinator runs a weekly registry report, identifying patients due for
A1C labs, eye exams, or kidney screening. Instead of asking the physician to chase every overdue item, the coordinator handles scheduling options and sends
a single clear message with two choices: book via portal or reply “CALL ME.”

When results come back, the nurse reviews them first, and the patient gets a plain-language explanation plus one actionable next step. The pharmacist
follows up on medication adherence and access barriers (“Is the copay the issue? Are you skipping because of nausea? Are you taking it at the wrong time?”).
If the patient reports food insecurity, a CHW connects them with local resources and helps navigate enrollment paperwork.

The technology isn’t the star. The star is coordination: the patient isn’t left to assemble care from scattered instructions, and the clinician isn’t buried
under tasks that someone else can do safely with protocols. Over time, the patient’s care feels less like a test and more like a partnership.

Snapshot 3: Portal messages stop eating the practice alive

A clinic’s portal messages double over a couple of years. Clinicians feel like they’re working two jobs: daytime visits and nighttime inbox.
Leadership finally treats messaging like its own “service line.” The team sets rules: scheduling questions go to scheduling; routine refills go through an MA
workflow; symptom questions go to nurse triage; and only messages requiring complex decision-making go to the clinician.

They introduce a short “message intake” template for patients (a few required fields: symptoms, duration, severity, preferred callback).
They add a daily asynchronous work block so clinicians don’t have to choose between lunch and safety. They also track metrics:
response times, routing accuracy, and how many messages truly required a physician. Within months, the team discovers a surprising truth:
most messages never needed to land in a clinician’s inbox at all.

Patients still get answersoften fasterbecause the right person responds first. Clinicians regain evenings. And the clinic’s culture improves because the
system finally matches reality: modern care includes asynchronous work, and it deserves staffing, protocols, and thoughtful technology support.