An increased focus on data would help electronic health records mature from being "basic retrospective documentation systems" into "modern patient collaboration systems," Shahid Shah, author of The Healthcare IT Guy blog told Government Health IT's Michelle McNickle in a recent interview. According to Shah, several other hurdles remain to the growth of EHR systems, such as the restriction of EHR use to "legal entities" like single hospitals or hospital systems. "To manage integrated and coordinated care, successful EHR systems must open themselves up beyond legal boundaries," he said. Shah also pointed to improved organization as key. "Too often, databases are treated as a file cabinet--just let your application toss whatever is necessary in there and then deal with organizing it later," he said. "But in the emerging world of [accountable care organizations] and [patient centered medical homes], that won't be possible." Article