Quantifying the excess: evaluating the superfluous data burden in outside medical records

Katherina Y. Chen^1,*, Max Stempel², Luis Gonzalez Miranda³, Aisha Kazeem⁴, Nicolas M. Ortiz,¹
1 Department of Urology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
2 School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
3 Department of Urology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
4 Department of Urology, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY, USA
* Corresponding Author: Katherina Y. Chen. Email: email

Canadian Journal of Urology https://doi.org/10.32604/cju.2026.075344

Received 30 October 2025; Accepted 10 March 2026; Published online 18 August 2026

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Abstract

Background: Outside medical records (OMR), while necessary for tertiary referral care, often contain irrelevant or redundant information due to poor electronic medical record usability, which has been reported as a large contributor to physician burnout. This study aims to quantify and classify the superfluous portions of OMR received by urologists at an academic referral center. Methods: All initial adult visits seen by five urologists over a six-month period were reviewed by two independent reviewers. The number of pages of the OMR relevant to the consultation question was recorded. Superfluous content was classified as clinical-but-not-relevant/duplicate or administrative. Referral source (urologist versus non-urologist) was also noted. Results: 299 patients met the inclusion criteria: 122 (40.8%) from urologists, 177 (59.2%) from non-urologists. The median length of OMR was 16.0 pages (Interquartile Range (IQR) 9.0–28.5). Pages containing relevant information constituted a median of 50.0% (IQR 33.3%–65.2%) of the OMR, clinical-but-not-relevant/duplicate pages accounted for 18.2% (IQR 0–37.5%), and administrative pages made up 25.0% (IQR 15.6%–36.4%). Urologist referrals included more pages on average (33.4 vs. 19.2, p < 0.01) and contained a higher proportion of relevant content (57.7% vs. 43.9%, p < 0.01), with fewer pages of non-relevant clinical data (15.5% vs. 27.7%, p < 0.01). Conclusions: Only half of the OMR content in urologic referrals is clinically relevant. While specialty-matched providers submit more and better-targeted records, a significant portion remains superfluous. Improving how OMRs are processed presents an opportunity to increase clinical efficiency and decrease provider burnout.