Medical assistants' roles in electronic health record processes in primary care practices: the untold story.

The role of the medical assistant has been undervalued in the past. Many publications have detailed the integral role of the nursing staff and physicians, but the medical assistant role has come last in formal recognition. As healthcare settings move toward a more Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model, the attitudes of this model will need to be adopted, two of which are team-based care and adoption of the electronic health record (EHR). As the EHR continues to gain more traction in healthcare, a thorough understanding of it, by everyone, will be vital for its success. In this article, the medical assistant's relationship with the EHR is outlined through qualitative interviews and observations with medical assistants in PCMH programs. The data describe diverse EHR experiences and how these experiences are influenced by and reflected in workflow issues, training, patient care, and an expanding role of the medical assistant.