The key benefit of openEHR archetypes is that they empower the users with the real expertise - the clinicians. The archetype approach does this by separating the standardisation of the clinical concepts from the record management and technical ones. This allows clinicians to focus on the problem of modelling the clinical concepts in the health data, knowing that the common framework will enable health record interoperability and medico-legally safe records.

From a technical point of view, archetypes enable EHR systems to be future-proof from changing clinical knowledge. EHR systems can be implemented based on the reference model, using common methods for storing, querying, viewing and exchanging health data. New clinical archetypes (or new archetype versions) can then be added to the system while it is running, enabling the system to evolve.