Beyond Compliance: What KLAS’ Brief Reveals About the Real ROI of Legacy Data Decommissioning – Image for illustrative purposes only (Image credits: Pixabay)
Health systems continue to carry the expense of old software applications years after implementing modern electronic health records. These legacy tools remain active mainly to preserve access to historical patient information for legal or clinical needs. A May 2026 KLAS performance brief examined how 36 deep adopters of archiving platforms actually put the technology to work between September 2025 and March 2026. The findings point to clear operational and financial advantages that have little to do with the advanced features vendors now emphasize.
The Gap Between Vendor Promises and Daily Reality
Vendors have increasingly described archiving platforms as versatile data engines ready for artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and real-time analytics. In practice, however, most organizations keep these systems focused on simpler tasks. The KLAS brief shows that advanced capabilities remain rare in production environments. Only a handful of the surveyed adopters have moved any archived data into AI or machine-learning projects, and just one reports using natural language processing for text extraction. This limited uptake stems from the way archives sit apart from the main clinical data flow. Organizations face extra work to extract, clean, and integrate the information before it can support complex models. The report therefore cautions leaders against expecting an archive alone to deliver enterprise-level analytics. Separate investments in governance tools and analytical platforms are typically required first.
Financial Relief Through Legacy System Retirement
The clearest and most consistent return on investment comes when organizations use archiving to shut down older applications entirely. Many health systems had kept dozens of legacy programs running simply to retain historical records. Those programs carried ongoing costs for maintenance contracts, software licenses, and server infrastructure. By moving records into a centralized archive, adopters eliminate those recurring expenses. They also reduce the labor required in health information management departments, where staff previously spent time searching multiple disconnected systems. Security improves as well, because retiring old hardware removes unpatched systems that could serve as entry points for unauthorized access. These steps produce measurable savings that appear quickly once the legacy applications are decommissioned.
Workflow Improvements That Support Ongoing Care
Beyond cost reduction, the most common non-compliance use of archives involves direct integration with active electronic health record workflows. Forty-two percent of the deep adopters in the KLAS study connect archived records so that physicians can view a patient’s full longitudinal history without leaving their primary system. This approach keeps care continuous across multiple years and avoids the need to hunt through separate databases. Other organizations export data from the archive for secondary analytics or to manage older accounts receivable. These uses remain secondary to the core workflow benefit. The report notes that true enterprise analytics still demands additional infrastructure beyond what the archive itself provides.
Setting Practical Expectations for Future Capabilities
Sixty percent of the organizations surveyed expressed no interest in using archived data for AI modeling or research. This stance reflects both technical hurdles and current budget priorities. Health systems face tight margins and clinician shortages, so capital is directed toward immediate operational needs rather than speculative tools. The KLAS findings therefore encourage a measured approach. Leaders are advised to treat archiving platforms as reliable operational tools first. Once legacy costs are contained and workflows are streamlined, organizations gain the financial flexibility to pursue more advanced projects elsewhere in the enterprise.
Key points from the KLAS brief include: – Legacy decommissioning produces the most reliable financial returns. – AI and advanced analytics remain distant goals for most adopters. – Workflow integration supports care continuity more than native analytics features. – Separate investments are needed for full data governance and modeling.
These observations align with the broader pressures health systems face in 2026. By focusing on what archives already accomplish well, organizations can reduce unnecessary spending and create room for innovation on firmer ground.
