Electronic health records (EHRs) are digital copies of a person’s medical history. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) states that EHRs streamline heath care providers workflows and provide patients with better access to their own information.
EHRs Defined
Traditional medical information systems offer limited functionality. EHRs provide access to the following medical data: daily charting, physical assessment, admission notes, nursing care plans, specialist referrals, complaint symptoms, past medical history, life style choices, physical examination results, test diagnoses, recommendations, treatment outcomes, discharge advice, immunizations and medication administration. All relevant medical information is available within a centralized system that can be accessed from various platforms, such as laptops and smart phone apps, at any given time.
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The digital nature of software programs drastically improves the accuracy and completeness of medical data. The quality of this information is important in patient care, but also very helpful for health policy planning and health service cost forecasting. Research studies that compare the documentation of different health care professionals clearly show that there are varying levels of content quality, handwriting legibility and narrative focus.
The Benefits of EHRs
EHRs contain comprehensive health information to both the medical provider and the health care consumer. Paper medical record systems come with minimal costs, but they take up space and are prone to human errors. EHRs mean physicians, nurses, specialists and other staff members can access the electronic record from any facility through various platforms and devices. The EHR allows physicians and staff members to easily document interactions with patients, view medical histories, access insurance information, create referrals to other departments and order lab tests and view results.
EHRs can access radiology records and submit electronic prescription requests to private pharmacies. This by itself drastically reduces the risks of medical errors from hard-to-read handwriting. HER programs will automatically flag potentially harmful drug interactions, remind health care providers of upcoming appointments and allow patients to download their own information from home. These software systems offer clinical decision support tools that help medical providers choose the best and safest courses of action.
Why Health Care Organizations are Transitioning to EHRs
Most important, the federal government has mandated that health care organizations transition to EHR systems, so a EHRs help health care organizations maintain compliance with regulations. More and more health care organizations are retiring paper medical record systems in favor of EHRs because of the organizational advantages. A centralized database can be used for EHRs, HQMs, patient portals, billing systems and practice management.
Some of the more advanced software program will automatically tally and report on Health Quality Measures (HQMs), which are a key piece in value-based care reporting. Some EHR software programs offer interoperability solutions, which mean that health care systems can share data between isolated systems and locations. Data researchers and analysts can use this massive amount of information to identify trends, operational inefficiencies and business opportunities.
Electronic Health Records are being hailed as a scalable information technology solution that offers sophisticated functions, user benefits and improved productivity. EHRs also help with billings and collections, because EHR’s automatic tracking and red flag functions help health care administrations to improve collections and clean claim rates to almost 99 percent.
