As anyone who’s ever used an electronic health record (EHR) can attest, they weren’t built with research in mind. Entering data for patients can be difficult enough, but when it comes to getting data out for a study, many researchers throw their hands up and open Excel, where they start entering data by hand.

So how to get started? The first things to consider are the format of what you need and the data systems where it is captured. Do you need a list of medical record numbers for...