HIMSS25 Session Recap: Elevating the Mobile Patient Experience Beyond the Portal

At HIMSS25, Gozio Health delivered a clear and compelling call to action:  health systems need to think bigger than patient portals. Gozio challenged the industry to reimagine how mobile technology can transform patient engagement across any EHR. In a session led by Dr. Michelle Flemmings and Brittany Jones, attendees explored how Gozio’s mobile-first approach enables health systems to prioritize patient-first, intuitive mobile experiences.  By eliminating friction and unifying fragmented tools, this strategy drives deeper connections, improves access, and creates a seamless digital journey for patients. 

The Problem: A Fragmented Digital Experience

The session opened with the story of Sarah, a sandwich-generation caregiver juggling her own and her family’s healthcare across multiple portals and disconnected apps. But Sarah isn’t just a patient—she’s also the CIO of her hospital, someone deeply familiar with the limitations of current systems. 

Sarah knows the patient portal is disconnected and impersonal, treating patients like they’re  "just another number." Despite her expertise, she feels powerless to implement meaningful change. Legacy systems, clunky interfaces, and the risk of breaking what already (barely) works leave her frustrated and unable to deliver the seamless digital experience her patients deserve and her organization demands.

Sarah’s story is not unique.  Across the industry, patients face: 

• Confusing interfaces that vary across providers and EHR systems
• Fragmented care journeys that make tracking, scheduling, and managing healthcare unnecessarily difficult.
• Outdated digital tools that lack the seamless usability that patients expect

The result?  Frustration, missed appointments, dissatisfied patients, and operational inefficiencies. 

The Solution: A Mobile-First Approach

Instead of relying solely on EHR patient portals, health systems need to take a more strategic approach, move beyond outdated tools and embrace mobile-first strategies to meet patients where they are—providing solutions that help them navigate their health and care without friction or added complexity. 

Three Key Principles for Better Digital Experiences:

1. Think Bigger Than Portals

• • A patient portal alone isn’t a mobile strategy.
  • Health systems must design solutions around the patient’s needs, not the limitations of an EHR.

2. Embrace Intuitive Design

• • Patients expect digital tools to be intuitive, user-friendly, and deliver the same experience they enjoy with platforms like Amazon, Netflix, or Uber.
  • Mobile platforms should feature clear navigation, convenient scheduling, and integrated wayfinding to remove barriers to care.
  • Real-user testing ensures the interface is seamless, accessible, and optimized for all patient populations.

3. Personalize the Experience

• • Patients want tools that feel tailored to their needs
  • Digital tools should surface relevant information at the right time and offer self-service options like appointment scheduling, bill pay, and symptom checkers.
  • Feedback loops should be integrated to continuously improve the patient experience.

The Takeaway: Stop Talking About Patient Experience and Start Delivering It

The time for simply talking about meeting patients where they are and creating a seamless, delightful digital experience is over—it’s time to act. One of the biggest takeaways from the session was that health systems don’t need to be restricted by their EHR when designing a better patient experience. 

By layering a mobile-first engagement platform on top of any EHR, organizations can: 

• Streamline access to care.
• Unify fragmented tools into a cohesive, easy-to-use experience.
• Deliver a frictionless, personalized experience that truly engages patients, improves access, and builds loyalty.

The future of patient engagement is seamless, connected, and patient-first. Patients deserve digital experiences that exceed the care, personalization, and attention they’ve come to expect in every other aspect of their lives—systems that honor their individuality and keep the human touch at the heart of healthcare. 

Healthcare is complicated, but navigating it doesn’t have to be. It’s time to deliver the experience patients deserve and organizations demand—quickly, effectively, and without being held back by outdated systems.