EHR: Paving The Way Towards Improved Patient Care

By Danielle M. Saady


EHR or electronic health record focuses on the overall patient's health and is comprehensive when it comes to the kind of information it contains. The information contained in an electronic health record is not limited to data gathered by one practice. It is designed to go past data or information gathered within a practice and is meant to be shared with other medical providers in a patient's care team, such as laboratory analysts and specialists. With electronic health record, anyone who is part of the team designated to provide care for the patient can securely input, manage and access medical information when needed.

There are several benefits that can be drawn from maintaining an EHR. Patients can have access to it wherever they go, even if they change medical providers, hospitals and specialists, or even if they change state or country. This system opens doors of possibilities, enabling everyone involved in a patient's care to share medical information in a secure manner, which consequently promotes teamwork. As medical providers from various modalities collaborate with each other, effective communication is established, which consequently translates to better patient care.

Information is power, and medical providers can utilize EHR to know everything they need to know about the patient's medical history, and give him quality care. This is vital in order to execute a more coordinated patient care. For example, with Electronic Health Record, the patient's primary care provider can enter information about a patient's life threatening allergy, so that if in case of emergency and the patient is not capable of relaying this information himself, people in the emergency department can have access to this very critical piece of information. This system is beneficial to a patient as well because he can access his own records and track his health progress. From the comforts of his own home, he can view his medical records and look at the findings in his laboratory tests. By seeing how his lifestyle changes or his medications are influencing his test results, he can be motivated to keep doing the things that is helping his health and medical condition.

Electronic Health Record system assists in averting duplicate testings that can be both time and money consuming. A healthcare provider does not have to schedule the same tests simply because he can simply refer to the records and get the information from there. Electronic health record assists in promoting smooth shift from one health care provider to another or from one care environment to another.

Through Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act or HITECH Act, health care providers passing eligibility requirements can meet the criteria for incentive payments by Medicare and Medicaid when they adopt a qualified technology. There are requirements that needed to be met in order to receive these incentives, and one of the qualifications is to meet EHR meaningful use objectives.




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